Luck of the Draw
by MasterGhandalf
Summary: Jinx thought she had left her past with the HIVE behind her. But when a mysterious organization begins stalking her and Kid Flash, Jinx realizes that being a supervillain is something that casts a long shadow.
1. Prologue: Target

**Prologue: Target**

Images flashed across the glowing screen, each lighting the dark room in rapid succession. They came from a variety of sources- security footage, prisoner mugshots, old school pictures, a handful of amateur photos, and even a brief clip from an old advertising video. They varied wildly in quality, but all had one thing in common- all concerned the same person.

Seven figures sat in a semicircle around the viewscreen. They wore identical dark purple robes with gold trip, and their faces were concealed by hoods and cloth masks. The only way to tell any of them from the others was by their height. They sat perfectly quiet and still while the slideshow played, but as it ended one of them leaned forward and seemed to study the last picture intently. "We are certain, then?" he asked- a man's voice.

"Yes," said the figure who sat beside him, also a man. "We have studied our candidates for over a year, and she is the closest to the ideal that we can possibly hope to find. Unless you choose to stall s through more pointless questioning, we are ready to proceed." There was a challenge in the second man's tone.

"Of course not," the first man said, holding up his hands reassuringly. "If the rest of you are agreed, I won't quarrel with you."

"We are agreed," the other six said, speaking in eerie unison. The first man sat back in his chair and fell silent.

"Then it is settled," the second speaker said after his colleague had failed to respond. "I will leave at once, then." He turned and looked over his shoulder, and when he spoke again his tone less arrogant, almost deferential. "With your permission, of course."

The other hooded figures turned to look behind them as well. Immediately past the semicircle of chairs, the room was dominated by a raised platform, and atop it sat another chair. This one was more ornate, almost like a throne, and its occupant sat deep within its shadows. All that could be made out were the bottom portions of a robe like the ones the others wore and the pair of clawlike hands that gripped the chair's armrests.

"Go," the figure said, its voice a woman's, old and wheezing but still carrying a great weight of authority about it. "Go and return swiftly with my prize."

The one who had spoken to her rose fully from his chair and bowed stiffly at the waist. "As you will, Mistress," he said, and without a further word turned and glided from the room. The other six figures and the one who sat on the throne were left looking at the last picture on the slideshow one again- that of a teenaged girl with strange gray skin, glowing eyes with slit pupils, and hair that was styled to resemble horns, a fact that wasn't able to detract from its vivid shade of pink.

Beneath the picture, a name was displayed: JINX.


	2. Chapter 1: Criminal Minds

**Chapter 1: Criminal Minds**

Jinx paced back and forth along the sidewalk, arms crossed over her chest. She'd been waiting here for almost an hour now, and was growing impatient. She'd never been terribly good at waiting, though compared to her former teammates in the HIVE Five she was a master (well, maybe Kyd Wykkyd was better- it had always been hard to tell exactly what was going on in that guy's head). For a moment she allowed her eyes to flicker across the street to the dark windows of the jewelry store located there, but she shook her head. It had been months since Jinx had stolen anything, and the fact that she'd been even jokingly considering it now was a sign that she was both bored and on edge, if it was possible to be both at the same time. Still, it would be interesting to see if she still had the skills…

She was pulled forcibly back to reality when she noticed the two figures she'd been waiting for come slouching down the sidewalk. Bob and Joe Wood were twin brothers whose torn clothing, unkempt hair, and general air of smugness gave the impression of those who were trying their hardest to be both cool and menacing, and were failing miserably on both counts. Still, both were tough enough for people who didn't have any powers, and they were in deep with one of Central City's minor ganglords, a man who had recently acquired a high-powered explosive and threatened to set it off in the middle of downtown if he didn't receive a million dollars by next Saturday. Jinx thought the threat showed a distinct lack of imagination (Brother Blood certainly wouldn't have marked it very high if it had been submitted as a project in his Doomsday class), but boring or not, it could still do a lot of damage.

"Evening, boys," Jinx called out to them as they walked past. The twins turned to look at her, their dim expressions torn between being startled at her unusual appearance, and happiness that she was attractive anyway. She sighed under her breath- idiots were so predictable- but smiled anyway, determined to play her part regardless. "What's up?"

"Who wants to know?" one of them asked suspiciously- Bob, she thought. She saw him fingering something in his pocket- probably a knife- and allowed herself a silent chuckle at imagining his face when he found out it wouldn't do him any good.

Joe elbowed his brother. "Be nice- she's cute," he muttered under his breath, before turning to Jinx with what he clearly thought was a winning smile. "Course, I wouldn't mind knowing who you are either."

"Let's just say I've heard all about both of you, and I'm really impressed," Jinx told him- the first part, at least, was quite true. "I was wondering if you could take me to meet your boss? I'd _really_ appreciate it."

"I don't know," Bob said slowly. "Sounds kinda fishy to me. What do you want to meet the boss for?"

"Maybe I've heard all about his operation and want in. And maybe I think you two would know all about how to help with that."

Joe stepped forward and tried to put his arm around her- Jinx neatly sidestepped, which didn't seem to faze him. "I think we could do that," he said. "We're always looking for new help."

Bob was still looking murderous, but he didn't act on it while Joe lead Jinx down the street- it was clear who was the brain (such as it was) of this operation. After some time walking in silence, the twins turned down an alley and motioned for the former supervillain to follow them. They stopped a ways in, standing beside a manhole.

"The sewers?" Jinx asked, wrinkling her nose. "I was expecting something a little- classier."

"Sorry, babe," Joe said. "This is what we got- at least right now. Once the city coughs up all that money, then we'll get someplace real nice."

"Boss doesn't want us to talk about that," Bob told him.

"It don't matter," his brother shot back. "She's not gonna tell anyone. Ain't that right?"

As he spoke Jinx saw the dark shapes moving along the rooftops, but she studiously ignored them- sure she could probably take all these guys if she wanted to, but that wouldn't get her any closer to finding their base or their bomb. And so she did nothing as one of the figures crept up on her and struck her over the back of the head, sending her to her knees in a fog. Joe's apologetic voice echoed in her ears, but it was someone else- about the same age, but certainly smarter and with much better personal hygiene.

"You'd better appreciate this, partner," she thought, and then blacked out.

#############

Jinx groaned and opened her eyes slowly to find herself in a large space that was clearly a sewer that had been remodeled into an impromptu throne room. She was surrounded by about a dozen people in various stages of thuggishness, and directly in front of her was a large metal chair. On it sat a tall, thin man in a surprisingly nice looking suit, tapping a cane against the chair's side. Flanking him were two goons who looked like they could be Mammoth's long-lost relations.

"So," the man on the throne said. "You're the one who's been poking around."

"Is this who you treat everybody who wants to meet you?" Jinx asked. "Because if you do, then I can see why you don't have better quality henchmen."

The man's eyes narrowed. "I don't want to play games with you, girl," he snapped. "Who are you, and what is your interest in me?"

"Name's Jinx," she said, getting to her feet. Joe and Bob stepped out of the circle of watchers and came to stand behind her menacingly. "And you must be- what was that name? Oh yeah- the Big Boss. Real creative."

"What is your interest in me?" the Boss asked again, slower this time. Jinx could tell he was on the edge of blowing his top completely, which worked out quite well for her. She'd spent enough time on the criminal underbelly to know that bosses who let themselves get set off too easily didn't hold on to their turf very long.

"So I guess you're not going to accept that I really admire you and want to join your gang?" Jinx asked, trying her best to look infuriatingly innocent.

"No, I'm not," the Boss spat. He raised his cane and leveled it at her- probably he had some sort of weapon stashed in it.

"All right- you win," Jinx said. "I'm really here to do this!" Throwing her hands forward, she called on her powers and unleashed them straight at him. Waves of pink light shot forward, striking the base of the Boss's throne and ripping it from where it had apparently been bolted down, flipping the crime lord out of it and into an undignified sprawl. Snarling, he scrambled to his feet and fired a bolt of energy from his cane, but Jinx just laughed and cartwheeled away from it. Her hex was still affecting him- what aim he had was thrown off horribly. Shooting was, after all, something that took a certain amount of luck- and luck was something Jinx had it well within her powers to take away.

"Get her!" the Boss shouted after it became obvious to him that something was affecting his aim. His two bodyguards lumbered forward, and the rest of the gang drew their knives and guns. Jinx spun, eyes glowing as she shot more hexes their way. The floor buckled beneath them, guns backfired, and knives went flying out of suddenly shaking hands, while Jinx darted around the room, easily dodging the few clumsy shots the gang members managed to get off. In the commotion, no one noticed the chamber's door being blown open as though by a high wind.

One of the giant bodyguards drew a laser pistol from inside his shirt and took careful aim, making sure that Jinx was looking the other way before he fired. Smiling brutally, he began to pull the trigger at her exposed back- and then started as someone tapped his arm. He turned and blinked rapidly to make sure that the person he saw there wasn't just his eyes playing tricks- sure enough, there was a skinny kid with spiky red hair standing casually beside him, dressed in eye-searing red-and-yellow tights.

The kid shook his head disapprovingly. "That's not very nice," he said mock-seriously, and then with a blur of motion the bodyguard's gun was in his hand. He tossed it aside and then dodged each of the bigger man's fists with infuriating ease. Finally he just sighed and delivered a series of lightning quick blows to his opponent. The bodyguard collapsed, out cold.

"Hey," Jinx called from across the room. "I was wondering when you'd show up! I thought you were supposed to be the fastest boy alive!"

Kid Flash shrugged. "Sorry- there was a big door in the way, code lock. Had to wait for someone to come along and open it." He seemed to blur, and suddenly was standing at her side, holding the weapons of all the gang members he shot past in his arms. "Miss me?"

"Maybe a little." Jinx looked over her companion's shoulder to see the tall figure of the Big Boss making for the door. "But right now, we've got other problems." She fired a hex that struck the Boss's feet, sending him sprawling to the ground. He pulled out his cane and fumbled for the trigger, but before he could fire it Kid Flash rushed past, seized the weapon, and left it lying on the other side of the room. Back by the crimelord's side in an instant, he grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Where's the bomb?" he asked.

"I'm not going to tell _you_ that!" the Boss spat.

"Y'know, that's really too bad, because if you told me where it was, I'd be able to tell my friend here," Kid Flash jerked his head in Jinx's direction, "to be nice to you. Me, I'm a nice guy, and I'd like to do this the easy way, but…" he trailed off, and Jinx allowed her eyes to flash menacingly, letting the Boss's imagination run away with whatever she might be about to do to him. He gulped audibly, then nodded at his toppled throne.

"I had it under there, in a safe, where no one else could get it," he said. "I didn't want to put it in place before I had to, because someone might find it and disarm it."

"And so you just _sat_ on a live explosive?" Jinx shook her head. "You really are an idiot, you know that?" Walking casually over to the throne, she shoved it aside and found the top of the safe poking out from a square hole in the floor. With a flick of her wrist, she sent another hex at it- the lock spun madly, and then it sprung open. Within was a crude explosive, which she gingerly picked up- she didn't dare try using her powers to disarm it. Bad luck might make the bomb a dud, but it might also set it off prematurely, and she didn't want that at all.

Looking up, Jinx saw Kid Flash drop the Boss among his minions and then race around them in a blur of color and sound. When it cleared, he was standing by the side of a group of thugs who were bound tightly by a chain. Jinx raised an eyebrow at that. "Where'd you get the chain?" she asked.

Kid Flash shrugged. "It's amazing what you'll find lying around in the sewers." Pulling a communicator from his belt, he dialed a number into it and smiled. "And now I've sent the police info on where to find the guys who made the big bomb threat, and our work here is done."

"Not quite," Jinx said. "I'm not going to carry this thing around for the rest of the night, you know."

"Oh- right. I'll get it." She held the bomb out, and Kid Flash took it. There was a blur and a rush of wind and he was gone. In moments he'd returned, with the explosive nowhere in sight.

"Left it at the police department with a note," he said. "They'll probably want it as evidence."

"Then let's get out of here," Jinx said forcefully. She sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose as she did so. One thing that could be said for the HIVE Five's old base- Gizmo had at least known how to install air fresheners. Turning, the two left the lair and began to walk down the sewer tunnel, leaving the struggling gang members behind them. "Anyway," Jinx finally said, "I do hope you appreciate my letting myself get captures so you could trace my signal and find their base. I wouldn't do that for just any guy, you know."

Kid Flash shrugged and smiled. "Well, the night is young. How about I get you some dinner at this place I know downtown- the food's great, and you'd love the décor. It's a little dark and spooky for my taste, but-"

Whatever else Kid Flash had been about to say was cut off as the tunnel exploded in front of them.


	3. Chapter 2: The Opening Move

**Chapter 2: The Opening Move**

The force of the explosion rocked Jinx off her feet and sent her stumbling back into the tunnel wall. Rubbing her head, she pulled herself back into a standing position and quickly took stock of her surroundings. Kid Flash had also been knocked back and seemed too dazed to use his superspeed, and the tunnel ahead was choked with thick, brown smoke. Jinx's eyes narrowed as she peered into its depths- and then she jumped back as she realized something was moving in them.

It was a huge, bulky thing- twice as tall as a man and heavily plated in thick steel armor. From the looks of it, it was either a robot or some kind of advanced battlesuit- Jinx didn't know which, and she didn't particularly care. All that mattered was that it was turning its glowing red eyes towards her and raising one massive arm, and that was more than enough for her to decide that it was a threat.

The machine brought its hand level with Jinx and fired a bolt of brilliant white energy. Lightly dodging away, Jinx returned fire with one of her hexes, which struck her opponent on the chest, only to bounce off, deflected by some sort of energy shield bound into its body. "Looks like somebody did their research," she muttered angrily under her breath. That somebody had just made her job a whole lot more difficult.

As the machine turned to regard Jinx's position- she was thinking it was a robot, now, without a human intelligence to guide it- she felt a blast of air at her side as Kid Flash came to stand there. "So," he said nonchalantly, "is this some crazy ex-boyfriend you never told me about?"

Jinx snorted. "Nope- I'm not in to robots. I've never seen anything quite like this before." The robot brought up its hand again, and both teens had to drop to avoid being blasted. "It seems to know me, though."

Moving faster than a human eye could follow, Kid Flash was on his feet again and standing in front of the robot, directly in its firing range. Smiling mockingly at it, he poked himself firmly in the chest. "Yep, that's right- here I am. Take your best shot." It raised its hand again and fired off another blast, but when it hit Kid Flash had already moved himself halfway around the tunnel. "Oops, too slow. Better try again- nope, not yet. Come on, I know you can do better- oh, now that one was a closer, you're getting better. Let's try again…"

With each taunt, Kid Flash effortlessly dodged one of the robot's energy blasts, and his constant running about seemed to be confusing its motion sensors. Trying to follow it was even making Jinx a little dizzy, but she still started to notice something odd- none of the energy blasts were leaving any sort of damage on the concrete walls. Were they just some sort of harmless light (though firing that seemed rather pointless), or something that only affected living bodies?

Either way, Kid Flash suddenly stopped behind the robot and leaped onto its back, his hands preparing to jackhammer their way through its armor so that he could pull out its vital components. Unfortunately, before he could even begin the process the forcefield activated again with a crackle and a flash of energy, and the young hero was blasted back against the wall, where he lay smoldering.

Jinx hurried over to his side and rolled him over. He was still conscious, but had a dazed look in his eyes. They focused somewhat on her face, and he smiled. "Ow," he said weakly, and then fell back onto the floor. Jinx shook her head.

"My hero," she said, but couldn't mask the worry under her sarcasm. A clanking sound came from behind her, and Jinx looked up to see the robot standing over them, hand ready to release another blast. "No you don't," she hissed as it shot the bolt of energy, and she responded in kind. This hex was aimed not at the robot itself, but at the blast it had fired. The two attacks struck each other in midair- the hex burst, and it sent the robot's blast careening off harmlessly into the wall. The mechanical attacker looked rather perturbed at that, if such an emotion could even show on its expressionless metal face. Clearly, bolts of energy that changed direction in mid-flight were quite beyond its programming capacity.

That brought a vicious smile to Jinx's face. "Well then, let's see what you make of _this_, you oversized tin can," she snarled, and began to fire off more hexes. The robot itself might be immune, but the environment around it certainly wasn't- and as long as Jinx stayed out of range, she could turn everything in that environment into a weapon. At her direction inconveniently placed beams fell from the ceiling and struck the robot on its head, the ground buckled beneath its feet, and its own attacks were deflected harmlessly back at it. Still it continued to try and attack, incapable of knowing fear or deviating from its mission (whatever that was) for any reason.

The sight of the frustrated robot, though, made Jinx begin to feel cocky- a mistake. She didn't notice an incoming blast until it was too late, and her hex didn't deflect it very far. It struck her right leg and burst, and instantly she collapsed, a feeling of chill numbness running up her body. "Paralysis," she muttered, realizing that everything below her waist was now immobile. "Guess this thing needs me alive."

The robot marched forward to stand over her, and then its chest cavity swung open, revealing an empty space within. Long metal tentacles snaked out of the opening and began to wrap around Jinx's legs. Gritting her teeth, she fired off another hex, but it was deflected harmlessly off the metal.

Suddenly the air blurred in front of her and Kid Flash was there, still unsteady but very much awake. Hands working quickly, he began to pull the tentacles off of Jinx, even as they tried to wrap themselves more tightly around her. Finally she managed to pull free, but the tentacles relentlessly began to wrap around him as well. Kid Flash began vibrating his body, making himself difficult to hold and slowing the process down, but he couldn't stop it.

An idea struck Jins suddenly and with incredible force. Propping herself up on one hand and taking careful aim, she fired a hex into the robot's empty cavity. The machine paused, and then began to shake and spark. With a resounding crash its body blew apart, and Kid Flash was dropped roughly to the ground. The tentacles twitched feebly, then lay still.

Jinx crawled over and helped him tear them off. "Well, that was random," he said, then winced. "I think it knocked a tooth loose!"

"I don't think it was random," Jinx told him. "That robot was hear for me, and it wanted me alive."

"I wonder who sent it?" Kid Flash asked. "Do you think it was the Boss, in the mood for a little payback for ruining his bomb threat?"

"I doubt it- you saw that guy, do you really think he had the money or the brains to build a giant battle robot?" Jinx held out an arm. "Help me stand, would you? My legs still aren't working right, and I want a closer look at what's left."

Kid Flash helped pull her to her feet and they walked over to the wreckage, Jinx leaning on his shoulder. They stopped when they came to the robot's lifeless head, lying still on the tunnel floor. Jinx reached down and picked it up, turning it over in her hands and looking for some sort of identifying mark. Finally she found one, and gasped in surprise.

"What is it?" Kid Flash asked. Jinx said nothing, but showed him what she had seen on the back of the thing's "skull"- a symbol that she'd thought she'd left behind months ago; the stylized H of the HIVE.

#############

The Fifth Director of the Inner Circle sighed as the visual feed from his robot went black. The machine had failed, been proven to be far less durable than had been expected. But then, that wasn't entirely its fault- after all, the girl and her companion had proven far more resourceful than had been expected.

He heard a snide voice chuckling from behind him. Turning his chair around, he faced the robed and hooded form of his colleague, the Second Director. "It seems that your machine has failed, my friend," the Second said, still chuckling. "I warned you that it wouldn't work."

The Fifth scowled, though the expression was hidden beneath his hood. He and the Second had never been "friends"- true, they respected each others' competence and ability, but each also schemed to elevate himself in the eyes of their own superiors- the First Director and the Mistress herself. There had been no chance for anything resembling "friendship" between two of the leaders of one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the world.

"Do not think that this is the end, Second," the Fifth Director said. "Do not forget that we are all, at heart, men of science- that robot was as much to gather information on how the girl's powers had progressed since we last had a chance to observe her. It would have been fortunate if we could have captured her, but… I have other weapons. This is too important for me to risk by putting all our eggs in one basket."

"So what are you going to do now? Keep sending robots and gathering "information" until you're forced to admit she's just better than you are?"

The Fifth Director smiled grimly. "No- I think the time for that has passed, don't you? I think it's time to do more direct research- find one who knew Jinx well and force them to reveal all they know about her strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps there is something we missed- and it pays to be thorough."

"You have someone in mind?" The Second Director sounded unconvinced.

The Fifth turned back to his console and pulled up an image. "Indeed I do, and I think I shall be attending to this matter _personally."_


	4. Chapter 3: Break In

**Chapter 3: Break-In**

"The HIVE?" Kid Flash asked confusedly as he looked over Jinx's shoulder at the symbol on the robot's head. "The supervillain school you and the rest of the HIVE Five went to? I thought you said that place was destroyed."

"It was," Jinx said. "I told you what happened there- Cyborg used a hologram emitter to disguise himself and sneak in, win Brother Blood's trust, and steal the superweapon he was working on." What she hadn't told Kid Flash was that she and Cyborg had something of a mutual crush going on at the time; that was filed distinctly under information he didn't need to know. "The rest of his team showed up and attacked, and that's when he revealed who he was and used the weapon to blow the whole place up. Most of the students got away, and Blood ran out. I heard that he tried to establish another HIVE academy in Steel City, but he got put away before that ever got off the ground."

"So, do think it was Blood who sent this overgrown tin can?"

"Last I heard he was still in prison," Jinx told him, shaking her head. "And he was never too fond of robots anyway. Sure, he used dumb ones for training, but he hated things that could think but couldn't be controlled by his powers. Well, I did hear that after he got fixated on Cyborg he made a whole army of second-rate copies, but this tech doesn't look the same."

"Well, then, I'm stumped," Kid Flash said. "Is there anyone else at the HIVE who'd go through all the effort to build a giant killer robot and send it after you?"

"Not that I know about, but unless this is someone who's just using the HIVE symbol because they think it's cool, there's more to the HIVE than I ever knew about." Jinx put one foot in front of the other carefully, testing her weight on it. "I think I can walk now, if we take it slow."

Kid Flash stepped aside and Jinx began to walk down the tunnel, taking small steps as feeling returned to her legs. They were tingling unpleasantly, like they'd just been asleep, and her head was beginning to pound. _I definitely need to lie down after tonight_, Jinx thought to herself.

"It'll be alright," Kid Flash said from beside her. "We'll find out whoever's after you and we'll get him. I promise you."

Jinx opened her mouth to reply, when suddenly the pain in her head spiked so sharply that it drowned out all of her thoughts. She sank to her knees, clutching her skull, barely aware of Kid Flash getting down beside her and asking what was wrong. Then the pain built to a climax and she was distantly aware of throwing back her head and screaming as pipes lining the tunnel wall exploded and the world vanished in a haze of pinkish-purple light.

#############

"And stay out!" Completely satisfied with himself, Gizmo stuck out his tongue at his departing teammates as the metal door of the HIVE Five's base slammed shut behind them. Who did those scumscucking morons think they were, anyway- it had clearly been his brains and his robot drones that gotten them into the bank vault and his experimental teleporter that let them get away with the loot before the Titans showed up. It was obvious that he should get the biggest take. It was only fair, but those idiots still thought they could take his cut. Well, now they'd be sorry they ever tried to cross him- see how well they'd make it out there without him! Gizmo knew they'd be back in a few days, tails between their legs. He couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces.

In the meantime, he was going to enjoy himself. Ransacking the kitchen for anything remotely edible, he hurried to the living room with his arms (both real and mechanical) full of all the food they could carry. The next several hours were spent gorging himself without bothering to clean up while watching several of his favorite sci-fi horror movies in succession. Finally, a completely satisfied Gizmo passed out halfway through _Invasion of the Flesh-Eating Martians, Part II._

Several hours later, he was awakened by the sound of a loud _bang_. Shooting upright, Gizmo activated his various weapons and looked around wildly for the source of the disturbance. "Whozzere?" he demanded in a slurred voice. "You can't come in!"

The _bang_ sounded again, this time clearly coming from the direction of the front door. Activating his mechanical limbs, Gizmo rose into the air and stalked towards the sound, figuring that it was probably Mammoth gotten lonely early and trying to bash the door in. Well he wasn't getting back in, not until he was ready to grovel and kiss Gizmo's butt…

The lights suddenly flickered and went out. Gizmo looked around wildly, eyes wide- Mammoth couldn't do that; none of the HIVE Five could. "Oh, jeeze," he muttered under his breath. "It's probably those snot-eating Titans. Well, they'll never take me alive!" Pressing a series of buttons on his belt, he activated his force-field, holograms, and remote drones. If the Titans wanted a fight, they were going to get it!

Chuckling evilly to himself, Gizmo began to back deeper into the base, when one of his mechanical legs hit something and stumbled. Cursing, he spun around- and then stopped, eyes wide. What he'd tripped over hadn't been something, but rather someone- a man in golden armor, with a helmet designed to resemble an insect's head. The man had a beam rifle pointed straight at Gizmo, and several more in similar uniforms stood behind him.

Screaming in surprise, fear, and anger, the pre-teen science whiz drew his own beam pistol and began firing indiscriminately, shouting insults and anatomically-impossible threats all the while. The invading soldiers dropped and rolled beneath the lasers, bringing up their own weapons and firing a series of quick, clinical shots. Gizmo himself was protected by his personal force-field- a newer invention he'd been finding very handy- but his mechanical legs were still vulnerable. Each gave way, and the young criminal was sent sprawling to the floor.

Getting up on his hands and knees, Gizmo keyed on his invisibility cloaker and began to crawl across the floor, determined now just to get away. Dodging between the legs of the mystified attackers- who he now recognized as HIVE soldiers, though why anyone would dress up their henchmen like that with the HIVE belly-up was beyond him- he made his way slowly towards the door, only to find his path blocked. A tall man stood there, wrapped in a dark-purple cloak he wore above what looked like glossy body armor of the same color. His face was hidden behind a hood and a cloth mask that left visible only a pair of eyes that studied his surroundings with calculating interest. He held a tall metal staff in one hand; apparently hearing Gizmo's approach, he pressed a switch on one side and a pulse of energy shot from its top. The cloaker failed, just as the base's other tech had earlier.

Instantly Gizmo found the base of the staff pointed directly at his throat, a small blade of energy extending from it that stopped only inches from his skin. Looking up at the ominous, silent figure, he gulped audibly. "Whatever it was, it wasn't what you think! I didn't do it- it must have been Mammoth, or Billy, or, or…" Frozen by terror, Gizmo found the names of his teammates escaped him, so he just settled on whimpering pitifully.

"You're not making a good showing for yourself, boy," the man behind the mask said, his tone aristocratic and his accent cultured- faintly British. "But don't worry- I'm not really here for you."

That voice sounded somewhat familiar. "Brother Blood?" Gizmo asked hesitantly. "Is that you? I kept some of the HIVE together- you can have them all when they get back,- just don't hurt me!"

The man shook his head. "I'm not Brother Blood, though he is an… acquaintance of mine. I am the Fifth Director of the Inner Circle- you may simply call me Director. And didn't I just say this isn't about you? I'm here for one reason and one reason only, boy- I want information, and I want you to give it to me."

"Information?" Gizmo asked, brightening. "Yeah, I'll tell you anything you want- anything! Just get that sludge-oozing staff away from me. Err, Director."

"As you wish." The Director pulled the staff away and Gizmo sank to the floor, panting in relief. "Now then, I want you to tell me everything you know about the girl named Jinx."

"Jinx!" Gizmo shrieked. "That… that stinking, puke-brained… she turned on us, got us all frozen by the stinking Titans. I was stiff for a week after that!" He looked up hopefully. "You're going to do something really bad to her, aren't you? I'll help!"

The Director's eyes narrowed coldly, and Gizmo was suddenly reminded not so much of Brother Blood as of Slade. "My business with Jinx is my own, and I don't require your assistance. Just tell me everything you know about her- where she came from, what her powers can do, how she fights, and above all how she can be beaten. I have much information already, but I feel someone with a… personal stake might pick up on something I've missed, and for all your flaws you're far and away the most intelligent of that den of ineptitude that calls itself the HIVE Five. Now talk."

Looking up at the Director's masked face and cold eyes, Gizmo gulped, nodded, and began to speak.


	5. Chapter 4: Her One Weakness

**Chapter 4: Her One Weakness**

Jinx groaned as she came back to herself, aware of nothing but the stabbing pain that still lanced through her skull. Slowly the pain began to recede, and she became aware of other things, such as the fact that she was lying on her back on some hard surface, and someone was leaning over uncomfortably closely. Groaning softly, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and opened her eyes in time to see Kid Flash pull back, his expression at once happy and worried.

"What happened?" Jinx asked, rubbing her head and looking around. They were no longer in the sewers, but were surrounded by starlit trees and smaller plants, beyond which she could see the glowing skyscrapers of Central City. This was one of the city parks, then- the hard surface she'd been lying on was a park bench. "How did we get here?"

"You had some kind of fit," Kid Flash told her. "After we destroyed that robot, you just… fell over, clutching your head. Then I think you lost control of your powers, because everything around us just blew up. Pipes in the walls, what was left of the robot, even the concrete cracked."

"I remember that, a little bit. Talk about bad luck," Jinx said, shaking her head. "How did we get out of there?"

"Fastest boy alive, remember?" Kid Flash said with a flicker of the cocky grin that Jinx found equally annoying and adorable. "I got us out of there as fast as I could run with everything blowing up around me. Your eyes were glowing, and it all seemed to be following us, but after a few minutes you just went out of it, and the glow went away and so did the explosions. After that I left you here and ran through the whole city looking for a doctor who might know what happened."

Jinx frowned at the word "doctor"- most of the people she knew who used that title were nutcases who laughed maniacally while proclaiming that whatever crazy, stupid invention they'd put together out of spare parts would let them rule the world. "So you just left me alone on a park bench while you ran around the city looking for someone to help me? Real smooth there." Her heart wasn't in the barb, though, and both of them knew it.

Kid Flash shrugged. "I didn't think me carrying you while I was going at top speed would be good for you. Anyway, I checked back with you often as I could, so it's not like you were alone for too long." He shook his head. "Didn't do any good, anyway. There aren't many doctors out there who specialize in superpower meltdowns, and the only one I could find was this guy named Stevens, but he's out of town for a few days and never bothered to tell anyone where he was."

"Well, I'm better now, and whatever it was looks like it's stopped." Jinx stood slowly, still rubbing her head. "Superpower meltdown, eh? I don't even know what caused it- I've been in lots of fights before and didn't blow a gasket afterwards." Her eyes narrowed as a horrifying thought occurred to her. "Oh, I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to end up like Raven, meditating so much to control my powers that it sucks all the fun out of life. That would just be…" At a loss for words, Jinx shuddered.

"You not being fun? I don't think that's a problem," Kid Flash said, laughing. "Thing is, I used to worry that someday I'd run so fast I wouldn't be able to stop, and then I realized something. There's no reason to get worked up about what _might_ happen- just enjoy life as it comes!"

Jinx looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, and then chuckled too. "Well, you've clearly taken your own advice there, hero boy. Now then- how about that restaurant you mentioned earlier? After tonight, I'm really in the mood for something nice to think about. Think it's still open?"

"I'm sure it is, and if it's not, we'll go somewhere else. My treat!" Kid Flash turned and walked off into the night, Jinx following closely behind him. She wasn't really in the mood for food, but she _did_ need something to take her mind off of tonight's two attacks- one from an unknown enemy, and one from herself.

Somehow, she had the feeling that none of this was over.

#############

The Fifth Director of the Inner Circle walked through the shadowed streets of Jump City, his detachment of HIVE bodyguards following silently behind. His staff clicked metallically against the ground as he made a brisk pace away from the hidden lair of the HIVE Five and towards an abandoned lot large enough for him to summon and land his stealth jet. The Director had no intention of remaining in this city longer than he absolutely had to- he had no desire to draw the attention of either the Teen Titans or the local criminal mastermind, the enigmatic Slade. It wasn't that he truly feared either party, but a fight now would eat up valuable time and put him behind schedule, and that was something he refused to tolerate.

Finally they arrived at the decided transfer point. The Director stepped lightly over the "Do Not Enter" sign that hung from the chain across the lot's entrance and stepped into its center, his bodyguards following closely behind. Keying the command sequence into the remote controller on his wrist, he nodded in satisfaction as it chimed in affirmation and settled down to wait.

After a few minutes of this, the Fifth Director felt a vibration against his side as his communicator activated. Sighing, knowing who this caller most likely was, he pulled the communicator out and activated it. Sure enough, the masked face of the Second Director stared up at him. "The First Director demands you to report," he said without preamble. "Has your mission been a success?"

"Indeed," the Fifth replied. "I was most pleased with the information I retrieved from the boy called Gizmo. He is a fool in many ways, but that is because he lacks self-control rather than brains. There is a surprising amount of useful data locked away in that skull, and I believe I found some that will be of use to us. HIVE Academy did well to recruit him as a student."

"Elaborate," the Second told him. The Fifth's eyes narrowed behind his mask.

"I don't need to answer to you if I do not wish it," he said coldly. "And in this case I would prefer to keep my plans secret."

The Second's eyes gleamed with malevolent amusement. "Say then that the First Director wishes to know how you plan to snare the girl. You do not need to reveal the details, but we insist on learning the basic idea."

The Fifth keyed in a sequence on his communicator, transmitting the image of a young man with a cocky grin and spiky red hair to his colleague. "It seems that our young Jinx has a boyfriend. This one is called Kid Flash, true identity unknown. He's a wandering superpowered hero, said to be in league with the Titans, and Jinx has fallen in with him. According to Gizmo, he was the one who convinced her to leave their team, the HIVE Five, though admittedly he put it rather more colorfully than that."

"And how does the addition of one more superbeing make our task easier? I would think that it would complicate matters considerably."

The Fifth smiled behind his mask. "Ah, but it seems that Jinx has allowed herself to become weak- she genuinely _cares_ about him. It is possible to find strength in others, true, but it is far easier to be hurt if you leave yourself vulnerable in that way. Jinx is our target, but I believe that Kid Flash is the key to her."

"How so?" The Second Director seemed interested in spite of himself.

"Ah, now that would be telling, wouldn't it? You will see what I have in mind as it unfolds- it would be such a shame to spoil the surprise. Now then, you have interrogated me, so you owe me information in return. How fares _your_ end of the operation?"

"The machine is almost complete," the Second told him. "We just need to run a few more tests, but we are confident that it will be ready within the next few days- just in time for you to deliver Jinx."

"Indeed. And how fares the Mistress?"

"Her condition is unchanged, though she eagerly awaits the operation's completion. Have you anything more to report?"

"That is all. Fifth out." The Director snapped his communicator shut and returned it to his belt. The remote attached to his wrist was chiming again, which meant that it would soon be time for him to leave. Rising to his feet, the criminal mastermind looked to the sky and watched as his personal jet, silent and painted a non-reflective black, descended from the sky, visible only by the stars it obscured. It came to hover feet above the vacant lot, and a ramp descended from its belly.

The HIVE bodyguards marched inside, and the Fifth Director paused to make certain no one was there to see before sweeping inside after them. When he was settled into his seat, the ramp retracted and the jet rose into the sky.

The speaker beside the chair crackled. "Destination, Director?" the voice of the pilot asked from it. The Fifth turned for a moment to look back at the deactivated energy cell in the rear of the plane, and then looked back at the speaker.

"To Central City," he ordered. "We have business to attend there."


	6. Chapter 5: Magnificent Destruction

**Chapter 5: Magnificent Destruction**

Jinx strolled along the sidewalk of one of Central City's squares, Kid Flash at her side. He would pause every so often to point out a particular restaurant, shop, or landmark that he liked; she was familiar with most of them already, but he was clearly trying to do something to take her mind off of last night, so she let him go through with it. He also shot off every so often and returned with food, some of which he made a point of giving to her, while the rest he ate himself. Jinx couldn't really begrudge him this, as he needed to eat considerably more than a normal person to keep up the energy for his superspeed, though she did have to privately admit a certain jealousy over how he could eat so much and stay so skinny.

"So, feeling better this morning?" Kid Flash asked, suddenly reappearing at her side with two large bunches of cotton candy, one of which he handed to her.

"Well I was fine before you startled me like that," Jinx told him. "I was able to get some more sleep in my hotel room after all the excitement, and I haven't noticed anything wrong since. No headaches, and I tried a few hexes earlier without anything going wrong- or wrong-er than usual, at least. So far as I can tell, last night was just a one-time thing." _I hope_, she added silently.

Kid Flash shrugged. "I think everybody probably has trouble controlling their powers sometimes. If it doesn't happen again, we were probably just getting all worked up over nothing."

"Yeah," Jinx muttered under her breath, hoping he was right but having the distinctly sinking feeling that he wasn't. "Nothing."

* * *

"I see them," the HIVE soldier said into his communicator while the zoom feature in his helmet locked in on his two targets. The boy was gesturing dramatically with what looked like a half-eaten bunch of cotton candy, apparently telling some story to the girl that he found very amusing. From his angle perched on the roof of a nearby building, the soldier couldn't see the girl's response, but he quickly dismissed that as unimportant. "Shall I engage?"

"_Yes_," the staticky voice of the Fifth Director told him. "_You may engage at will- remember, I don't care what happens to the boy, but if the girl is permanently damaged it will be on your head. Am I clear?"_

"Absolutely, sir," the soldier responded. The Director nodded once and signed off; the soldier replaced the communicator on his belt and raised his beam rifle. Looking across the square, he picked out each of his companions in their hiding places and nodded to them. Then he took careful aim with the beam rifle, gritted his teeth, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"And so I said, 'Is that really the best you can do? I mean, my _grandma _can come up with better pranks than you!'" Kid Flash was saying. "And so Trickster, he says-"

But whatever the Trickster had said was something that Jinx was never to find out. Kid Flash had started regaling her with ways in which he had humiliated a variety of inept criminals in an effort to cheer her up- normally his stories earned at least a smile, but today Jinx's mind was wandering and her eyes darted around the square. Catching a glimpse of something gleaming on a nearby rooftop, she squinted to try and make out what it was- and then her eyes widened as she realized it was an armored figure pulling the trigger on a beam rifle.

"Kid Flash- down!" she shouted and pushed him out of the way. The shove was unnecessary on her part- once alert to the threat, he was more than fast enough to move out of its way- but it did help Jinx take a protective diver herself. She landed on the pavement and heard the beam tear into the ground just inches from where she was now. If she hadn't noticed the sniper in time, Kid Flash would have been history.

"You all right?" his voice asked worriedly in Jinx's ear.

"Yeah- and I'll be better once I get my hands on whoever's taking potshots at me," she snarled, leaping lightly back to her feet and looking around at the rooftops. Her assailant was there, taking aim again, along with several others on different roofs. Lowering their weapons, the opened fire as one.

Kid Flash dodged the beams easily, occasionally stopping to strike taunting, casual poses before the shots forced him to dodge away again. Jinx herself simply stood calmly; now that she could tell where the beams were coming from, it was possible for her to meet them halfway with her hexes, which caused them to bend away at improbable angles, striking the pavement harmlessly. The people who had been walking through the square, minding their own business, now ducked and hurried away, looking for safety. Jinx thought that was good- she didn't need any more obstacles here than were necessary.

At a signal from the one who was presumably the leader, the shooters leaped from their rooftops and descended to street level on long cables. Jinx's eyes widened as she got her first good look at them- she recognized that golden armor and those insectoid helmets, even though it had been months since she'd seen anything like them in person. "HIVE," she muttered, thinking of the robot from the previous night. "Are you ever going to leave me alone?"

The HIVE soldiers- eight of them now, it looked like- split into teams of four that moved towards both superpowered teens. Kid Flash gave one of his cocky grins and shot forward, lightly dodging around his assailants and poking them on the back, beating on their helmets, and generally making a nuisance of himself. "Now this looks like a very dangerous weapon," he said mock-seriously, popping up next to one of the soldiers and running a finger down his beam rifle. "Whoever gave it to you ought to be very ashamed of themselves for letting you run around in public with it. But, since they're not here and I am," he blurred again, and the soldier looked down stunned at his own empty grip. "I'll take it off your hands."

Jinx smiled and turned her attention back to her own attackers. They formed a half-circle in front of her and raised their weapons- the closest seemed to be on its stun setting, though it was still too far away to tell for sure- and opened fire. A well-placed hex deflected the beams; a second struck the rifles themselves and caused them to come apart in their wielders' hands. As the soldiers backed up in shock, Jinx shot them a nasty grin and aimed a third hex at their feet. The ground buckled beneath them and she danced forward, taking a flying leap and hitting the nearest soldier in the chest, knocking him to the ground. His companions turned and fled down a nearby alleyway, but Jinx grabbed him by the throat and got down in his face, her free hand and eyes crackling with pinkish-purple light.

"Who hired you?" she asked in a low, dangerous voice. "I want to know who's trying to kidnap me, and you're my best link, so talk. I don't know exactly what this hex I'm holding would do to you, but I bet you wouldn't like it. If you talk now, you won't have to find out."

"Nobody _hired_ me," the soldier said, his voice distorted by the helmet. "Unlike you, I stayed loyal to the HIVE, and I still am."

"The HIVE's gone," Jinx told him. "It went down with Brother Blood. Somebody's using you soldiers as mercenaries. Who sent you?"

"I did."

The voice was arrogant, cultured, and cold. Jinx looked up in the direction from which it had come, and her eyes widened at the figure that stepped out of the same alley where the other soldiers had fled. He was a tall man, dressed in a hooded, dark-purple cloak over glossy dark body armor, his face hidden by a cloth mask except for a pair of intense eyes. He carried a long, metal staff in one hand- it clicked against the ground as he walked, but he didn't seem to need it for support. That meant it was either an affectation, or, more likely, a weapon. His cloak was fastened with a pendant that resembled a small black hexagon with an oversized golden H in the center- the symbol of the HIVE.

The man walked with a casual confidence that Jinx had seen in only a few people during her life, despite her experience with the criminal underworld. He had the same sort of air about him that the HIVE headmistress had had, or Brother Blood, Slade, or Madame Rouge. Whoever this guy was, he was either incredibly overconfident or incredibly dangerous. Jinx was betting on the latter.

"I am the Fifth Director of the Inner Circle, Jinx," he said- his tone was casual and almost friendly, but the warmth didn't reach his eyes. "You are coming with me."

"Well, give me a moment to make up my mind here." Jinx pretended to give the matter serious thought. "Let me see- NO. Or how about, 'not on your life'? Or maybe _this_ will get the point across." Raising both her hands, she launched a hex directly at him.

The Director reacted incredibly quickly- before the hex reached him, his staff was raised before him and spinning. The energy struck against it and dissipated- whatever that staff was, it was clearly equipped with the same sort of shield as the robot. "Your powers are impressive, Jinx," he said. "But they will not save you." He raised his free hand, and energy began to build along the glove. Jinx jumped back from the fallen HIVE soldier, who seized the opportunity to make a hasty retreat, as the Director fired.

A thin beam of searing white light shot from the glove and burned a trench in the street. Jinx cartwheeled away from it, barely managing to stay ahead of the beam and not having the time to pause and launch a counterattack. Whatever that light would do to living flesh, having seen what it did to concrete she had no desire to experience it for herself.

Suddenly the Director stumbled and his attack faltered. Jinx landed on her feet and turned to face him as a blur shot past him again and resolved itself into Kid Flash. A slender device on leather straps- apparently the beam projector itself, taken from the Director's glove- hung lightly from one hand.

"Do you have a permit for this thing?" he asked, holding the projector up and looking at it.

"Your insolence will not save you, boy," the Director growled. "I may need Jinx alive, but you are highly expendable." He raised his staff and ran a finger along a switch on its side.

"Really, what is it with bad guys and their toys?" Kid Flash asked to n one in particular as he darted forward to seize the staff as well. He had barely touched it, however, before bolts of lightning shot up and down its entire length, wrapping itself tightly around both their bodies. The Director's suit seemed to protect him from the surge- Kid Flash was not so lucky. He collapsed to the ground, groaning and with his costume smoking.

"Time to clean up a loose end," the Director remarked, strolling over to stand directly over Kid Flash's prone form and raising his staff, which began to crackle menacingly again. From across the square Jinx's eyes narrowed as the thoughts _not _my _boyfriend, you creep_ slid across her mind. Raising both her hands and focusing her will absolutely, she let lose her power.

Waves of pinkish-purple light struck the Director, knocking him off balance and sending him stumbling backwards. The hexes didn't stop there, however- if this guy thought he could try to kidnap her and kill Kid Flash and get away with it, he was going to be in for a rude surprise. Hexes struck the walls of the alleyway, and bricks tumbled down from them, striking the Director on the head and shoulders and sending him sprawling. From across the square, windows burst from storefronts and manhole covers rose from the street before shooting towards their target. The Director's armor seemed to absorb most of the punishment, but one arm was up to shield his eyes as he stumbled backwards under the onslaught.

In spite of the chaos raging all around him, the groaning Kid Flash was unharmed.

The Director raised his staff and punched a key on its side. A blur appeared in the air above them, resolving itself into a small, slender jet as a cloaking device was deactivated. The sharp top of the staff suddenly shot upwards and embedded itself in the jet's underside- a thin metal cable connected it to the main staff and the Director who held it. The cable then began to retract, bearing the masked attacker up into the air.

"Oh no you don't," Jinx snarled, and she raised her hands. Almost everything in the square that wasn't bolted down shot upwards- she couldn't control it as precisely as Raven could, but when she was wielding this much power directed at a single target, all _sorts_ of really unlikely bad things would happen to him, such as all the free objects in the vicintity shooting like projectiles at him. It was a pity that the staff was shielded- otherwise she could just snap the cable and bring him right back down.

Battered by flying debris, the Director reached the bottom of his jet and pulled himself into the hatch. It sealed itself behind him, and then the whole plane vanished as the cloaker reactivated. Snarling in fury, Jinx released her power and those objects that hadn't impacted their target yet fell limply to the ground.

The square was in chaos. The street was cracked and broken, the storefronts utterly destroyed. The few people who remained were staring at Jinx with terrified eyes. That she could take- she'd become used to causing destruction wherever she went from an early age, and it had been what had made life as a supercriminal appealing in the first place. When she saw the stunned look on Kid Flash's face as he pulled himself to his feet, however, something in her seemed to snap. She'd seen looks like that on the faces of people who'd just seen a teammate lose control of their powers; but in this case, Jinx had done exactly what she wanted to and only succeeded in scaring the one person she actually cared about.

"Jinx- wait!" the speedster shouted, but she had already turned away from the square and hurried down and side street and out of sight.

* * *

"If you'll pardon me saying so, Director," the jet's pilot said, "I didn't think that went too well."

"Nonsense," the Fifth told him, brushing something that might, at one point, have been a banana peel from his cloak. "It went perfectly. We forced Jinx to unleash her true potential in defense of her companion; now she is afraid of herself, drained of energy both physical and emotional, and alone."

He looked out the front window of the jet and magnified the computer image showing Jinx rushing away from the scene of her act of magnificent destruction. "Follow her."


	7. Chapter 6: The Final Test

**Chapter 6: The Final Test**

Jinx stumbled down the street away from the scene of the battle, ignoring the startled looks from the people she pushed passed. At first she hadn't noticed, probably as a result of adrenaline, but now she was starting to become aware that she was exhausted, and her whole body _hurt_. It was probably because of all the power she'd unleashed at the end- manipulating probability on that scale took a lot of energy, and it had to come from somewhere. In this case, that "somewhere" happened to be her.

Finally, she found a sidewalk bench a good distance from the square and sat down, holding her aching head in her hands. Jinx wasn't usually given to bouts of angst or introspection, but now she found it rising in her unbidden. For the last several months, ever since leaving the HIVE, she'd been trying to prove to herself that she could be something other than a criminal, which wasn't the easiest thing to do when one's powers could only be used to destroy. She'd felt like she'd been doing a pretty good job of it, but today just hit home that destruction was still the one thing she was really good at. A whole city square torn up, and the bad guy _still_ got away- hardly the action of a great hero, there! The look in Kid Flash's eyes had just made it worse.

Jinx doubled over as pain shot through her head. _And to top it all off_, she thought irritably, _I still haven't gotten rid of or even figured out these blasted headaches! All in all, these haven't been a fun few days._ She allowed herself to smile weakly through the pain and exhaustion at the sheer understatement of that thought.

"You know, that whole glum, haggard look just isn't you," a familiar, cheerful voice said from nearby. "But, I have been told that I'm good at cheering girls up. Bet I can help." Jinx looked up to see Kid Flash leaning against the far side of the bench, looking more disheveled than usual after his encounter with the Fifth Director but in overall good shape.

"I appreciate it, but I don't really feel like talking right now," she told him.

"Maybe not, but I think you probably need to," Kid Flash said, his tone suddenly more serious. For an instant he seemed to blur and the air rustled, and then he was sitting on the bench beside Jinx. "You looked like you saw a ghost back there. What's on your mind?"

She almost smiled at him. "First off, how'd you find me?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It wasn't hard. I saw which way you went, I know this town pretty well, and I _do_ run pretty fast, especially after I got over where that creep in the mask shocked me. But what I want to know is why you ran off in the first place."

"It was… what I did back there," Jinx said slowly. "You know, all my life I've been able to make bad things happen around me, and I was lucky that I learned to control it pretty well early on. But I was still bad luck, and I knew it, and sooner or later everyone around me knew it too. That kind of puts people off. You think I stuck with Gizmo and those other losers after the HIVE Academy went belly-up because I liked their personalities? They didn't mind what I blew up as long as it wasn't them, so they didn't mind me. You never seemed to mind either, but today I sort of… lost it, when I saw him hurting you. I did a lot of damage back there, and it was all for nothing because he still got away. It just made me afraid that after seeing it, _you'd_ be afraid of me too, and I didn't want to deal with that."

"Well, I'll admit it was a bit of an eye-opener," Kid Flash said. "You don't see someone cut loose like that every day- at least I don't. But really, I think you're being too hard on yourself. I've heard lots of nasty stories about people who couldn't control their powers, or went crazy because of using them, but you were trying to do good back there. Whoever that guy was, he was just ready for us."

"He was from the HIVE," Jinx told him. "I don't know what part of it- I'd never seen him before- but he was definitely wearing the symbol, and that robe looked a lot like the ones Brother Blood used to have his assistants wear. Well, they didn't have high-tech battle armor generally, but otherwise the look was the same. I think he was the genuine article, and for some reason he wanted _me_."

"Well, he's not going to get you," Kid Flash said, surprisingly fiercely. "It would be really irresponsible of me to let the creepy man in the hood and mask kidnap my best friend, you know."

"You're sweet," Jinx said, finally grinning at him. "Sometimes annoying, but sweet." She got to her feet. "Did the police get any of those soldiers? 'Cause if they did, I think we need to have a little chat with them to see if they know exactly what the boss wants with me."

Kid Flash returned the smile. "Now that's more like it," he said, and moved to stand as well. Jinx turned and began to walk back down the street, when suddenly the pain lanced through her again, white hot. It was her whole body this time, not just her head, and as she collapsed to one knee it was all she could do to stay conscious. Though none of her power got loose, she could see tiny bolts of purple lightning playing about her arms and legs.

Then the attack was over and she pulled herself back to her feet, leaning against Kid Flash's arm for support. "On second thought," she said weakly, "maybe the henchmen can keep. Whatever's happening to me, I think I need help. I can't keep going like this."

"Yeah, but help from who?" Kid Flash asked, concern in his eyes.

Jinx's expression hardened. "I don't know," she said, "but I'll find somebody."

* * *

"Begin testing."

"Yes, Director," the technician who had been addressed said with a quick salute, before turning to his assistant. "You, fetch the test subject. We don't want our bosses to be disappointed in our work, do we?" The assistant scurried off, knowing full well that in the HIVE, disappointing one's superiors could prove… hazardous for one's health. After all, a secret criminal empire wasn't run on sweetness and kind thoughts.

The Second Director of the Inner Circle watched the man go with a bored expression behind his mask. He stood on a catwalk that spanned a vast cavern, the center of which was dominated by a cylindrical machine with a heavily wired chair perched atop it. The machine was the Second's brainchild, and his pride- his comrade and rival the Fifth Director was skilled at making traps and tricks, but none could match the Second when it came to creating truly powerful weapons of destruction. It required a certain degree of passion to create such a device, he thought, something that the cold and detached Fifth would never understand. The Second, though, found destruction something he could actively enjoy, and so he threw himself whole-heartedly into building it into his creations. Indeed, he and the weapons he made were on some level so very much alike.

"I trust this will work," an imperious voice said from beside him, and the Second turned to face his immediate superior- the First Director, who oversaw the day-to-day operations of the HIVE's empire and was second only to the Mistress herself. He wore the same uniform as the Second, though he was rather taller and more slender, and the edges of his cloak and hood were lined with gold. "Everything rests upon this effort."

"I am well aware of that, Director," the Second said, "and trust me when I say that I have fulfilled my end of the operation. Now it falls to the Fifth to fulfill his, and deliver the girl." The Director's tone indicated that he felt his colleague might not be up to the challenge.

The First waved him off. "I have full confidence in the Fifth Director's ability to secure Jinx for us. If only that fool Brother Blood hadn't driven the Academy into the ground we would never have lost her to begin with- I'd be of half a mind to test your machine on _him_ if we could find him- but I have no worries that she will be captured. My concern right now is for _your_ performance, my old friend."

The Second nodded as he saw the assistant technician return, wheeling in a thin table to which was strapped a man whose body was emitting electrical sparks. "Trust me, Director, you will not be disappointed," he said. "Technicians, begin the test."

The head technician saluted again and motioned to his assistants to begin. The man on the table was wheeled up to the machine, and men in shock-proof suits removed him from his bindings and carried him to the top of the machine. They strapped his protesting form into the chair and then quickly retreated, none of them desiring to be caught nearby when the test commenced.

Once they were all out of the way, the head tech nodded once at the Directors and then pressed a button on his console. The machine came growling to life and began to pulse, emitting flashes from around its base at intervals that the Second knew corresponded precisely to the test subjects heartbeat. Suddenly the electrical discharges around the man increased dramatically in their frequency and intensity, and he threw back his head and screamed as light enveloped him. When it cleared, he sat perfectly still, eyes blank and staring at nothing while the machine powered down. The electrical discharges that surrounded him were completely gone.

The head tech checked something on his control panel and then smiled tightly. "Success, Directors," he said. "The energy his powers produced has been successfully captured and stored, ready to be used as we see fit. It's not the same kind of energy we'll ultimately need, of course, but I imagine I can find some uses for it. The most important thing is that this test has been a success."

"Excellent," the Second said, not paying any attention at all to the man whose mind had seemingly been destroyed even as his powers were stolen. Smiling behind his mask, he turned to his superior. "I promised I would deliver, didn't I?"

"Indeed you did," the First said, sounding grudgingly impressed. "Now all we require is the girl, and all that we have planned can finally proceed." Without further word, he turned and swept away along the catwalk, cloak billowing behind him.

When he was gone, the Second turned back to the head tech. "Get the test subject down and reset the machine for Jinx," he ordered. "Everything must be perfect for the Mistress's ascension."

"Yes, Director," the tech said, and ordered his men to get to work. On the catwalk above, hidden by his mask, the Second Director smiled.


	8. Chapter 7: The Trap is Sprung

**Chapter 7: The Trap is Sprung**

Jinx pulled herself away from Kid Flash, running her hands along her body. She hurt all over this time- the ache reminded her of what it felt like to build fitness through exercise, except it was spread all throughout her rather than just in some of her muscles. "I just wish I knew why this was happening to me!" she said angrily. "I've never had attacks like this before the fight with that HIVE robot."

"D'you think it did something to you?" Kid Flash asked. "Are you sure it didn't inject you with anything, or something like that?"

"I think I would have remembered that," Jinx said drily. "But whatever's happening, there's got to be a cause."

"Maybe you should get yourself looked at?" Kid Flash suggested. "I mean, if there's something wrong with you, someone who knows what they're doing might be able to figure out what and tell you how to fix it."

"Yeah, like who?" Jinx asked. "I don't know anybody with that kind of expertise about powers, except maybe Brother Blood, and he's still locked up- not to mention that I wouldn't trust him to do the job right anyway. Honestly, _I'm_ not entirely sure how my powers work- only that they do."

"Maybe you should find out. There's a research center pretty close to here that I've heard about that studies metahumans- tries to find out what makes our powers work and how our bodies handle it. I bet one of the doctors there could help you out."

Jinx was dubious. "Research center? Flash, most of the scientists I'm familiar with are of the mad variety. I'm not sure I want to wind up some nutcase's lab rat."

He chuckled. "I think you worry too much. Really, I think these people are part of one of the local universities- they're not up to anything too risky. Besides, it's better than sitting around waiting for another one of those attacks."

"You're right about that," she admitted. "Well, I guess it's worth a shot. But if this goes wrong, remember that it was _your_ idea."

"You're on," Kid Flash said. "Now let's get going before you have another episode."

"Wait a minute," Jinx said, "I don't like the sound of…" before she could finish, Kid Flash and already scooped her up in his arms and shot of down the street at a blinding pace.

* * *

"They're moving out, Director," the HIVE soldier who sat in the cloaked jet's cockpit said.

"Excellent," the cloaked and masked figure replied. "Their destination?"

"As you predicted," the soldier replied.

"Very good. Set our course- we're not going to beat Kid Flash there, but it _would_ be impolite to keep them waiting long, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, sir," the soldier said, activating the controls and send the jet soaring silently along the path the two teens had taken.

* * *

Jinx fidgeted as she sat in the lobby for the Central City University Institute on Superhuman Studies. Apart from Kid Flash and a bored-looking receptionist to whom they'd explained the situation, they were alone in the room, and Jinx couldn't shake the feeling of unease. The receptionist had told them that one of the doctors would be able to examine her shortly, and had been shocked when they'd asked about payment- Kid Flash, though he'd only been active for a few years, was already a popular fixture in the city, and the receptionist said they'd be more than willing to assist any friend of his free of charge. It all struck Jinx as being far too convenient. Kid Flash told her she worried too much.

A signal buzzed behind the desk, and the receptionist picked up a device that resembled a small cell-phone and answered it. After speaking briefly, she put it back down and smiled. "Our chief research specialist, Dr. Stevens, has just returned and will be able to examine the young lady now," she said.

"Stevens," Kid Flash said, "wasn't that the guy from the hospital I checked the other night? They said he was on vacation or something."

"Dr. Stevens sometimes lends his knowledge to the local hospitals when they have to treat a patient with superhuman powers. He has been on vacation for the past few days, and like I said he just got back. I assure you he is one of the most knowledgeable men in his field," the receptionist said. She motioned towards the door in the back of the lobby. "He's waiting for you both."

"All right then," Jinx said, getting up and walking towards the door, Kid Flash following closely behind. Opening it, she saw a middle-aged man in a white lab coat waiting, a paternal smile on his face. The nametag pinned to the coat's front read "Samuel Stevens, Superhuman Research".

"Ah," he said, smiling wider. "You must be Jinx. And Kid Flash, of course, I know by sight, though we've never met face-to-face." He held out his hand. "I'm pleased to make both of your acquaintances."

Jinx shook the doctor's hand warily. His voice sounded somewhat familiar, but she couldn't place it and finally put it out of her mind. He probably just reminded her of some instructor she'd had at the HIVE. "Are you sure you can help me?" she asked without preamble.

"Well, I won't know for certain until I know what exactly is troubling you, but I assure you I will do my best." He smiled warmly. "Now if you will both follow me. We'd best get this started."

* * *

Jinx lay on her back on a flat table in a room that uncomfortably reminded her of Gizmo's personal lab, albeit much neater. The walls were bare and white, and various machines and scanners dotted the floor and walls. One of these was about to be lowered over her, and she'd examined it rather thoroughly, much to Dr. Stevens' amusement, before deciding that she would allow it to be lowered over her. She finally had to admit that it appeared to be nothing more than a high-powered scanner, and decided it would be safe. Kid Flash stood off to one side with a concerned look on his face, drinking from a glass of water one of Stevens' assistants had given him.

"All right," Jinx said. "Before this thing starts, I want to know exactly what it's going to do. It'll just help me feel a bit better about this."

Stevens chuckled. "You're a suspicious one, aren't you? This machine with simply analyze the patterns of energy coursing through your body- energy that controls your powers and, from your description, is likely responsible for the attacks you've been suffering. After analyzing the readout, I should be able to tell you exactly what is going wrong and where, and how to best deal with it."

"Then let's get this over with," Jinx told him. Resting her head back on the table, she tried to keep her mind relaxed as the scanner was lowered over her. She could here Stevens counting down from five, and then he snapped his fingers. Across the room one of the assistants, flipped a switch, and the scanner erupted in brilliant white light.

* * *

An hour later, Jinx sat in the lobby again, nursing a headache that had nothing to do with her attacks and everything to do with the brilliant light that had been shined directly in her eyes by that stupid scanner. Would it have killed Stevens to tell her she ought to closer her eyes before he turned the thing on? Maybe it was just his idea of a joke, though it didn't seem very professional to her. He was back in his lab now, poring over the results. He'd better have got something good from it, was all Jinx could say.

Beside her, Kid Flash was hanging his head, eyes looking droopy. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're going to need a doctor too before this is all over. I mean, bad luck is one thing, but that would just be ridiculous."

"I'm fine," he said, trying and largely succeeding to sound bright. "That battle this morning must have tired me out worse than I thought, though. I think I'll just get some more water." As he got up to do that, however, the door opened and one of Stevens' assistants poked his head out.

"Your test results are ready, Miss, uh… Jinx," he said. "Follow me please."

"You coming?" she asked Kid Flash.

"You go on," he said. "I don't think there's anything to worry about, and I'm just feeling really beat."

Regardless of what he said, he seemed distinctly out of sorts and had Jinx worried, but right now she needed to find out what the doctor and his cursed machine had found out about her condition. She followed the assistant back into the research section of the building and heard the door shut behind her.

* * *

Kid Flash felt like he'd just sprinted a hundred miles at top speed, and he had no idea why. He was also incredibly thirsty- he could feel the back of his throat burning no matter how many cups of water he downed. Finally he just dropped back into one of the lobby chairs, and, deciding that wasn't comfortable enough, sprawled over a couple of them.

He blinked heavily, and the world started swimming in front of his eyes. Something in the back of his brain was telling him that this wasn't right, but the rest of him just wanted to sleep. Finally the worried part of him won out and he pulled himself to his feet, preparing to go barging into the back after Jinx. She'd been right- there was something fishy going on here…

He tried to take a step, but his legs apparently had other ideas. Kid Flash toppled backward onto the floor, and the last thing he saw was the receptionist hurrying over and bending over him with wide eyes before darkness fell over his vision and he passed out.

* * *

Jinx sat across from Dr. Stevens at the desk in his office, a small room rather bare except for a computer, a shelf of books with highly technical titles that made her head hurt even to think about, and a handful of awards that hung on the walls.

"So," she finally said. "What's the scoop? Are my powers going to boil my brain in my head, or am I just imagining things?"

"Neither," Stevens said. "I've analyzed you're readouts, and I must admit they're quite fascinating. Your body channels a tremendous amount of energy from an outside source as yet unknown, and it uses that energy to manipulate, to a degree, the flow of the universe itself. In other words, you quite literally shape probability to your advantage."

"You know, that's about the fanciest way of saying I cause bad luck that I've ever head," Jinx told him. "It also doesn't tell me anything I don't know already. What did you find out about my headaches?"

"Your body has recently spiked the amount of energy it's been drawing in," Stevens explained. "That's put a lot of stress on it, and it's been forced to rapidly adjust. That appears to be the cause of the symptoms you're experiencing. It may continue for a short time, but should ultimately cease without causing lasting damage."

"The fight with the robot," Jinx breathed softly, "and the HIVE soldiers. That's what's been causing this- I used too much power during those fights."

"What was that?" Stevens asked, sounding interested.

"Nothing," Jinx said. "Just glad I'll be back to normal soon. So, about how long will it take to get this out of my system?"

"A few days, so long as you don't tax yourself too much in the meantime," he said. "However, if you want, I have prepared a medication I've used in similar cases that should serve to dull the pain." He reached into a drawer in his desk and removed a long, thin needle filled with some purplish substance. "If you don't want to take it, I fully understand."

For a moment, Jinx paused, weighing her options. On the one hand, she'd only known this man for a little over an hour and she wasn't sure she trusted anything a stranger wanted to inject her with. On the other hand, if she wanted to track down the HIVE agents who were pursuing her, she couldn't be crippled by the headaches and loss of control, and if this helped she didn't think she could afford to pass it up.

Besides, a little voice in the back of her head said, you're not a criminal anymore. You don't need to be suspicious of everyone's motives. Kid Flash would trust Stevens. Do you want to be more like him, or like Gizmo and Mammoth?

That settled it. "I'll take it," she said firmly.

Stevens smiled. "Roll up your sleeve, please," he said. Jinx did so, and without any fuss he dabbed off a small area of her skin and injected the medication. Jinx didn't even feel it go in.

Almost immediately, however, she realized something was terribly wrong. A feeling of numbness was spreading along her arm, and then up into her whole body. She tried to lung at the doctor who still stood there, smiling at her, but she only fell forward and crashed into his desk. Her whole body felt like dead weight. She'd been tricked, paralyzed, away from help. Jinx cursed herself for an idiot.

Dr. Stevens smiled and pulled a small, round device from inside his coat- a HIVE communicator. Flipping it open, he spoke softly into it with the familiar voice that Jinx could now place. "This is the Fifth Director of the Inner Circle," he said. "Tell the First that I have her."

**AN:** Sorry for the late update- I've been preoccupied with finishing my Avatar: Last Airbender fic and the holidays in general. I should be back on schedule now- thanks for your patience!


	9. Chapter 8: Secrets of the HIVE

**Chapter 8: Secrets of the HIVE**

Jinx's sensation of the next several minutes was dulled. She saw Stevens- the Fifth Director- motioning for one of his assistants to enter the office, and the younger man quickly threw a concealing cloth over the paralyzed teenager. The next thing she knew, strong arms had picked her up and were carrying her- by the sounds, first through the hallways of the research center, and then briefly outside, and then, from the way the footsteps seemed to echo as though on metal, inside a vehicle of some sort. She felt herself set down against a cold wall, and the cloth was pulled away just in time for her to see that she was in a small metal room of some kind, looking out into what looked like a jet cockpit. Then the assistant who had pulled the cloth away hit a button, and Jinx's prison was walled off by a pulsing green force-field.

There was a faint thrum through the plane as the engines started- from her cell, Jinx couldn't see any windows, but assumed they were either airborne now or soon would be. She could feel her hands and feet starting to tingle, and suspected that whatever poison the Director had used on her was now wearing off. That was at least one small comfort in this whole mess.

She didn't know how long she waited, but her body was at least mobile, though still somewhat numb, when a robed shadow appeared in front of the force-field. Looking up, she saw the Fifth Director, now dressed in his armor and cloak, though with the hood down, revealing his face, which was now bland and expressionless. Jinx snarled and pulled herself to her feet, blasting hexes at him. They struck the force-field and bounced back into the cell, where the ricocheted back and forth against the ceiling and walls, forcing their caster to duck until they dissipated.

"That will do you no good, you know," the Director said, pulling up his hood and face-concealing mask. "I had the cell's security field adjusted to the precise wavelength of your hexes. They cannot escape from its confines, and cannot harm either me or it. Save your strength."

"Yeah," Jinx said. "I'll save it, until I find out a way to get at you. Why the mask, though? I know who you are now."

He shook his head. "This," he said, gesturing to the featureless cloth mask, "is the true face. Dr. Stevens was the mask, a false persona I crafted to suit my ends. The Fifth Director of the HIVE is who- and what- I _truly_ am."

"So you were Stevens all along, then?" Jinx asked. "The lady at the front desk said you'd been gone. Was she in on it to, then?"

"No. The research center is quite legitimate, I assure you- only my most _trusted_ assistants are aware of my connection to the criminal underworld, and none of them know the name of the organization to which I truly belong. The answer to your first question, however, is _yes_- when I heard that an institute devoted to studying metahumans was being founded here, in my own home city, I forged false credentials for myself and gained membership." He looked at her appraisingly with his cold eyes. "Your kind has always fascinated me, I must admit. So many of my inventions over the years have been devoted to mimicking superhuman abilities.

"I knew both from my own observations and my interview with your old teammate Gizmo that you and young Flash made quite a formidable pair. The key to your capture lay not in fighting you head on, but in separating and tricking you both. I knew that my attacks, if planned right, would sooner or later force you to push your powers far beyond what you had used before- and that considering your feelings for Kid Flash, he would be the tool I used to accomplish this. I put you both, but him in particular, in danger, and allowed you to do the rest. It magnificently, I must say. As I told you earlier, your doing so produced certain painful, potentially dangerous symptoms- and considering my institute was so close by, I felt it quite likely that you would inadvertently come directly to me for help.

"I knew that Kid Flash could still prove something of a challenge, so I took the precaution of drugging the water I gave him. I scanned you to give it time to take effect, and also to make certain that our previous encounter had not damaged you. As for the rest- you know what happened as well as I."

A chill crept up Jinx's spine. She knew plenty of would be criminal masterminds who loved to gloat at their victims, but true professionals only did it if they were certain the victim in question wouldn't live to tell what they had heard- and the Fifth Director gave every indication of being a true professional. That meant that he was most likely going to either kill her or brainwash her, and neither possibility was one that Jinx looked forward to.

"Hate to break it to you, smart guy," she said, hoping that if she kept him talking she might at least be able to learn where he was taking her, "but you obviously don't know as much about superpowers as you think you do. Kid Flash is a speedster- he'll flush whatever junk you gave him out of his system _real_ quick, and do you think he's just going to let you get away with this? I wouldn't bet on it."

The Director shrugged. "It is of no concern. He's probably already awake, but we were in the sky and cloaked well before that happened. Even the fastest person alive cannot follow what he cannot track."

Jinx slumped back against the wall. "So where _are_ we going, anyway?"

"To the headquarters of the HIVE."

"The HIVE?" Jinx asked. "You see, that's where you're losing me. Last time I checked, the HIVE was a school for mercenaries and criminals- emphasis on the _was_. So how exactly do you fit in to all this?"

The Director's cold eyes stared at her through the eye-slits of his mask, and then he inclined his head. "I suppose that it would do me no harm for you to know precisely what purpose your life has been selected to serve. After all, there is nothing you could do now to prevent it, anyway.

"Many years ago, eight of the world's greatest criminal scientists came together- I was among them. We were all very different in terms of personality and area of expertise, but we shared a common belief- that the criminal underworld as it stood was not enough to satisfy our ambitions. We felt that we were meant for something greater.

"One of us proposed a plan- we would pool our skills and resources and found our own secret empire, working together to acquire absolute power and knowledge. With out skills, our weapons, and our cunning, we could lay the world itself at our feet. We named ourselves the Hierarchy for International Vengeance and Extermination- HIVE- and the one who proposed the plan began to call herself the HIVE Mistress. The rest of us were her Directors, One through Seven, and together we were the Inner Circle.

"For years we waited and plotted, and our hidden empire grew. The Academy you attended was my own brainchild- a school to train an unstoppable army for us, and also provide us with metahumans to study. Soon, however, we were faced with two problems. The first was that the Mistress- who had not been a young woman even when the HIVE was founded- began to grow old and sick. Without her to keep the rest of us in check, we knew that we would fall on each other and tear the HIVE apart while battling for control. I proposed a solution- that we find a source of energy powerful enough to rejuvenate the Mistress, making her- and perhaps all of us as well- stronger than she had ever been. We looked for a source in nature, but never found it- all were either too weak, or too dangerous. That's when we turned our attention to our "students".

"And there is where our second problem arose. His name was Brother Blood, and he used his formidable psychic abilities to trick his way into our organization and seize control of the Academy from us- promptly, of course, driving it into the ground with his single-minded drive for power. The Academy's students dispersed.

"We still had the records of your histories and powers, but you were no longer where we could easily find you. We still had our records, however, and we combed through them diligently, looking for the one whose power we could most easily harness.

"That someone, Jinx, was you. You don't even realize how incredible you truly are. Your powers allow you to reshape reality to your whims, even if only to a small degree. The amount of energy your body is designed to channel to accomplish that is phenomenal. Not only do you wield great power, but the ability to alter the course of reality is precisely what we needed. Of course, it will need to be controlled more completely than you are capable of, but that will not prove difficult once it is separated from you."

"Separated…" Jinx's voice trailed off as she realized what he meant. "You're going to strip my powers out of me and use them to help a whole group of you maniacs take over the world? I don't think so!" Lunging forward, she struck the force-field and stumbled back, then fired hexes at it again to no effect. Finally she slumped, drained. "And what'll happen to me after you and your friends do this 'separating'?"

"That," the Fifth Director said, "is not my concern." Looking at his cold eyes, Jinx couldn't suppress a shiver. There was nothing at all in this man, she realized- not happiness, not anger, not even hate. Nothing but ambition and a sort of cold, professional pride.

"Get some rest," he said without sympathy. "You'll need it." Then he turned and swept away, leaving Jinx alone in the cell as she was being carted off to an unknown location and a terrible fate.

"Not if I can help it," she muttered softly to herself as she lay down against the cell wall. "Not if I can help it…"

* * *

Kid Flash groaned and sat up slowly, blinking as his eyes finally managed to register where he was- the lobby in the research center, with the concerned-looking receptionist bending over him. "What happened?" he said weakly.

"I'm not sure," she said. "You just… passed out."

"How long?"

"Not long- a few minutes."

"I think there was something in that water," Kid Flash said. "So, do you drug all your clients, or am I just special?"

The receptionist shook her head. "I don't know what's going on here."

Kid Flash stood up slowly and shook his head, trying to clear it. Then a thought suddenly popped back into his head, and he realized what had happened. "Jinx!" he said, and then sprang into a run towards the door to the main building, blowing them open as he passed. He was still woozy, and a few times he stumbled or nearly ran into a table or wall, but though he searched through the whole building in a matter of seconds, there was no sign of Jinx or Dr. Stevens.

Finally he stopped, panting heavily and leaning against a wall- he was still too drugged for that much running to have been good for him. There was only one conclusion he could reach- that HIVE creep in the hood and mask had set a trap, and they'd fallen right into it. Now he had Jinx and was gone with her who knew where.

Wait a minute- _somebody_ knew where. Kid Flash waited until he'd caught his breath, and then turned and began to race for the downtown police station. Some HIVE soldiers currently being held there had answers, and he was going to get them.


	10. Chapter 9: Headquarters

**Chapter 9: Headquarters**

Night was falling as the Fifth Director's jet cruised over the mountains, drawing ever closer to the secret headquarters of the HIVE. The Director himself stood behind the pilot's chair, staring directly ahead as the course adjusted to aim the craft for a particularly high peak. Jinx lay asleep in the cell near the back, her futile efforts at escape having apparently exhausted her. The Director had sat and watched her for some time; after deciding she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, he had come forward to where he could have a view of the passing terrain.

As the jet approached the mountain, it seemed at first as though it was going to crash into the side, at least to the untrained eye. The Fifth Director knew better. Just before the impact would have occurred, the mountainside flickered and then _parted_ as the holographic field deactivated, revealing a long metal passageway into which the jet flew. It headed down the corridor for several minutes, until coming to a pair of metal doors that opened to reveal a massive hangar built deep within the mountain. The jet hovered for a moment above the hangar floor, and then gently sat down.

The exit ramp descended, and the Fifth picked up his staff from where it rested against the wall and swooped down it. Second waited for him there, flanked by a half-dozen of his own soldiers. Fifth gave his colleague a brief, faintly mocking salute.

"I see you have returned," Second observed. "Do you have her?"

"I would not have returned if I did not," Fifth replied. "She is in the cell aboard my jet- I shall have my guards bring her down presently. I trust you have fulfilled your part in this?"

"I have. The transference device is prepared and tested. All we need now is a few hours to reset it for Jinx, and her power will be ours."

"The Mistress's, you mean," Fifth said.

Second's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "Indeed. Now bring her down. I want to get started."

Fifth looked back up the ramp and motioned at his soldiers. They nodded and ducked back inside the jet, returning in a few moments with Jinx, whose hands were now bound by a pair of cuffs that would generate a painful energy field if she tried to use her powers. There was a groggy, unfocused look in her eyes as well- Fifth had ordered his men to drug her as an additional precaution.

Second seemed to smile beneath his mask as he saw her. "Excellent. Scan her powers so that I can have a readout to use to calibrate my machine, and then take her to the holding cells."

"These are _my _soldiers," Fifth pointed out in a quiet, dangerous voice. "You should think twice about commanding them."

"You brought her here- your role is ended. From here on out, she is in my hands. Your presence is no longer required." Second smirked beneath his mask and then stalked off deeper into the base, the soldiers leading Jinx following closely behind him.

"No longer required?" Fifth whispered when he was gone. "I am afraid, _my friend_, that this is an area where we must disagree."

* * *

The three captive HIVE soldiers looked up darkly as Kid Flash was let into their holding cell. Since they'd been captured earlier this morning, the police had confiscated their distinctive golden armor and insect helmets- all were now dressed in plain black jumpsuits they'd presumably worn beneath the armor. They clearly weren't happy to see the teenager partially responsible for their capture, but neither were they foolish enough to try and attack him without their technology.

"Take as long as you like," the officer at the door said. "We'll be waiting right outside if you need us."

"Thanks a lot," Kid Flash told him, and waited to let him step outside and shut the door behind him. Then he turned back to the prisoners. "We've got some things to talk about," he said.

"What, come to gloat?" one of the soldiers asked him. "Sorry, but I ain't interested in listening." He turned away from Kid Flash and stared defiantly at the featureless wall.

Kid Flash sighed. "Look, I'm not here to gloat, and I'm not here to hurt you. I just want you to answer some questions for me."

"About what?" one of the other soldiers asked, standing up.

"About my friend Jinx," he told him. "She was just kidnapped a little bit ago, and your boss- that creepy guy in the purple cloak who called himself the Fifth Director- was the one who did it. I want to know what he wants with her."

"Well, you'll have to look somewhere else, buddy," the soldier said, chuckling darkly. "We don't ask why the Directors want something when they decide they want it- that's a really good way to end up strapped to a table the Second Director's lab, and believe me, _nobody_ wants that. We don't know what the boss wanted with your girl, and even if we did know, why would we tell you?"

Kid Flash sighed. "All right then, another question. Where would he be taking her?"

"You just don't seem to get it, kid," the third soldier said. "We're not going to tell you anything. What're you gonna do- beat it out of us? Sorry, but you don't look like Batman to me."

For a fleeting moment Kid Flash found himself tempted, thinking of whatever horrors might be being visited on Jinx in the HIVE's sanctum, but then he shook his head. "No," he said. "You're right. I don't have it in me to do something like that. I'm not some grim avenger of the night- I'm just a guy who's trying to make my city a better place, and right now that means I need answers out of you. Why are you so loyal to the HIVE, anyway? What've they got on you?"

"They pay," one of the soldiers said, and the others shrugged. "That's all we need."

"Really?" Kid Flash asked, looking around at the cell. "Doesn't seem to me like that means a whole lot when you're locked up in a cell."

"Are you naïve or what, kid," the soldier said, shaking his head. "The HIVE'll get us out of here in a few days- they've got resources and connections you wouldn't believe. We won't be here long."

"Wow. That's really pretty impressive- most criminal organizations I know wouldn't go that far to help out a couple of grunts." Kid Flash leaned up casually against the wall. "Must be nice working for the criminals who care."

That struck a nerve- he could see the prisoners looking at each other warily, the thought that loyal service might not be rewarded apparently a new one for them. It was still something they didn't seem to have trouble believing- Kid Flash breathed a sigh of relief as he realized he'd been right about the kind of people the HIVE leadership were.

"And I suppose you can offer us a better deal?"the first of the soldiers who'd spoken asked.

"If you tell me what I want to know, I might be able to put in a good word for you with the police and the court, get you out of here a little earlier." He shrugged. "Course, if you went back to doing mercenary work for crime rings I'd just have to catch you again. But we don't have to go through that if you don't want to."

"Still one problem," one of the other prisoners said. "The Directors- they won't take it too well when they find out we helped you. Personally, I value my neck, and I'm not going to put it on the line for you."

"Give me enough good stuff, and I can shut them down for good," Kid Flash said. "Secret societies don't do too well when they're not secret anymore. And if they're as nasty as you make them out to be, you're probably already on the hit list just for talking to me. Seems like you're best option is to help me out here, least in my opinion." He looked at them all again. "So- do I have any takers?"

"Kid's got a point," the third soldier said. "We're not getting out of here any time soon, and helping take down the HIVE'll look real good for the courts."

"And if he screws up, we can always just say he forced us to do it," the first pointed out. "Not even the Directors can read minds. Hedging our bets either way sounds good to me." He turned to look at Kid Flash. "All right, kid. What do you want to know?"

"Where were you taking Jinx?" he asked.

A few moments later, Kid Flash was shooting out of the police station at top speed, the name and location of a certain mountain locked firmly in his mind.

* * *

Jinx sat alone in the holding cell, head bowed and cuffed hands resting in her lap. She'd tried to fire off a hex and escape as soon as the drugs had worn off, but all that had gotten her was a very nasty electrical shock that still had her tingling. If she was going to get out of this one, it wasn't going to be with her hexes, and it wasn't going to be easy.

She might have drifted off to sleep again- the cell was so dark she couldn't be quite sure- but when she looked up again she realized she was not alone. A shape too large and blocky to be a person filled one corner, and Jinx could hear the faint humming of the engines that kept it levitating an inch off the floor. Studying it more closely, she realized that it was a chair of some sort, and that there was someone sitting in it.

"Who's there?" she asked, trying to sound more confident and dangerous than she felt.

"The one responsible for your presence here." The voice was recognizable as female, but only barely, it was so dry and raspy. The figure in the chair made a motion, and lights around the edges of it flickered into existence. The chair itself was revealed to more strongly resemble a golden pod or cocoon that any normal seat, and it indeed had engines lining its back and underside to keep it in the air. The one who sat in the chair was still half in shadows, but Jinx could tell that she was tiny and wrapped in a purple cloak similar to the one the Fifth Director wore. This individual, however, wore no mask, and what little of her face that could be seen in the hood's shadow was withered and deeply lined. Jinx didn't even want to guess at how old the woman was.

The only other visible features were the eyes. They were bright and penetrating, and betrayed no hint of frailty or weakness. The will behind those eyes was still strong, despite the age of the body, and they looked at Jinx with such intensity that she almost felt they could see through her flesh and deep into her very thoughts. She shivered without meaning to.

"You're the HIVE Mistress, aren't you?" she whispered.

The hooded head inclined. "I am."

Sudden rage rose up inside Jinx. Snarling, not even trying to call on her powers, she leaped to her feet and hurled herself at the Mistress's chair. The old woman only shook her head sadly, and the Jinx slammed into an invisible force field inches from her face and was thrown back to the floor. She pulled herself back up to her knees, nursing several new bruises.

"That was foolish," the Mistress said. "Surely you did not think I would come to see a prisoner by myself and unprotected?"

"What do you want?" Jinx asked angrily. "Besides the whole taking my powers and using them to get your youth back thing."

"What do I want?" the Mistress asked softly. Her chair hovered closer until she was right next to Jinx, and she reached down with one nearly fleshless hand and cupped the girl's chin. "Child, you do not have the experience or the vision to understand what I want. When I first entered the criminal underworld, I saw that it was disorganized, chaotic, destructive of itself as much as its enemies. I decided to change that, to create a criminal empire that would span the globe and endure for all time so that it could realize its true potential. But to do that I need _time_, and you will give that to me. You should be proud to know that your powers and your mind will be given up so that a perfect criminal empire might be born."

"Why are you telling me this?" Jinx asked.

The Mistress pulled her hand away. "I only thought it appropriate that I should see you, and that you should know for what cause your energies will serve." She doubled over, coughing, and then fixed Jinx again with her fierce, beady eyes. "Now I must rest and prepare." Her chair lifted slightly into the air and glided towards the cell door. Before it exited, the Mistress turned around and faced Jinx one last time. "We will not speak again," she said, and was gone.

Once more, Jinx was alone in darkness.


	11. Chapter 10: HIVE's Victory

**Chapter 10: HIVE's Victory**

Kid Flash shot across the countryside at top speed, the wind that followed him so strong that it cause trees to rock violently in the ground. It took real concentration to avoid slamming directly into an obstacle at this speed and ending up a yellow-and-red smear against some tree or rock, and managing to keep it up while holding the directions from the HIVE captives in his head was a real challenge. He just hoped the directions they'd given him had been real, and not just a mercenary soldier's idea of a laugh.

Finally he saw the mountain looming ahead of him. Kid Flash rushed up its sides, dodging around trees as he tried to remember what the soldiers had said. They wouldn't give him a specific entrance- apparently their loyalty or fear ran that deep- but they had told him that there were guards who patrolled around the area. If he could find one of them, he could follow them back to the entrance.

Suddenly he caught a flash of yellow out of the corner of his eye and pulled himself to a sudden stop behind a tree. Yes- there was a HIVE soldier there, beam rifle cocked as he looked around questioningly for the source of the rushing wind he'd just seen. Kid Flash slipped back out of sight and waited for the man to finish his inspection, apparently decide he'd been seeing things, and then return to his patrol. Patience was not the speedster's strong suit, but right now it looked like what he needed. Darting quickly from one tree to another, he followed the soldier on his path.

For what felt like several hours they wandered about seemingly aimlessly, but finally the soldier stopped by what looked like nothing more interesting than a blank face of rock on the mountainside. Kid Flash seriously hoped he hadn't decided that this was an ideal place for a nap, but as the soldier approached the cliff he held up one armored hand, palm out. There was a shimmering, and the rock vanished, replaced by a pair of imposing steel doors. They slid open with an impressive burst of steam, and a second soldier stepped out, presumably the first's relief. They exchanged brief, idle chatter and then the first stepped inside the base. Kid Flash saw his chance and darted forward, running so fast that they'd be hard pressed to see anything but a blur. Before either guard had registered his presence he was past them, rushing down the long metal hallway with a trail of wind blasting behind them. He could hear the two guards shooting at nothing, and then the sound of one of their voices as he made a call on his communicator. That was when the alarms started blaring.

"Well," Kid Flash muttered under his breath. "I'm in. Easy part over with. Now I have to find Jinx and get out of here."

* * *

The Second Director looked up angrily as the intruder alarms sounded, eyes narrowing angrily behind his mask. Spinning, he turned to look at his colleagues. "What is going on?" he demanded.

"I believe that we are under attack," came Fifth's acidic reply.

Second whirled on him, lightning crackling around his gloves as he clenched his fists. "I am aware of that," he hissed. "I designed our alarm system myself- I know what it means. I merely want to know specifics."

"In that case, you might be best served leading a troop of soldiers to the source of the disturbance rather than taking out your anger on those who've been standing right next to you for the past half-hour," Fifth said.

"Enough!" First snapped, stepping between them. The other four Directors shrank back- First, Second, and Fifth were the strongest personalities among them, and they had no desire to get between them when they were obviously angry. "I will not have your rivalry poison the Mistress's ascension. Second, control your temper, and Fifth, remember that Second's presence will be required at the ceremony, as the machine we will be using was his creation." He lowered his hands, but his eyes remained cold. "Now, do either of you have any civil recommendations?"

"Well," Fifth said, "if Second will be otherwise occupied- and of course postponing the ascension over something so trivial is out of the question- then I might recommend that, say, Fourth and Seventh take their forces and patrol the perimeter to search for the intruder and capture them?"

The three powerful directors turned to face their colleagues. Fourth was a slender woman with a distinct fondness for advanced weaponry, while Seventh was a rather weedy man with a good head for tactics. Second thought it over, decided he couldn't see any harm to himself in Fifth's suggestion, and nodded once.

"Excellent," First said. He turned to the rear of the room, where the Mistress's chair hovered. "Does this plan please you?" he asked.

"Go," the Mistress rasped. "Protect our base until this is through."

First turned back to the others. "You may go," he ordered, and the two Directors saluted and swept from the command room.

Second stepped forward. "I will fetch the prisoner," he said. "Let us finish this as soon as possible."

* * *

Kid Flash heard the sounds of booted footsteps echoing through the halls as they marched towards him. The HIVE base was a labyrinth- he was sure he'd passed this part of the corridor at least three times before, and was no closer to finding Jinx than he had been when he'd started- but the soldiers seemed to know where they were going. Deciding that it would be best if he went the opposite way, he turned from the sound and ran down the hall- only to run directly into a second group of yellow-armored soldiers, led by a familiar-looking figure in dark purple.

"You!" he said, skidding to a halt. Then his mind caught up with what it was seeing, and he realized that this was _not_ the Fifth Director, though his uniform was the same. This man was shorter and thinner, and the laugh he gave was more high-pitched and emotional than the other's smooth, soft voice.

"Well, well," the strange Director said, "it seems you've foolishly blundered straight into my path. As you can see, you are outnumbered and outmatched." There was a clicking sound, and Kid Flash looked down to see a small but nasty-looking gun pointed directly at him. "It would be easiest on us all if you came quietly."

"Ah, I'd love to, but you see this phrase "come quietly" just isn't in my vocabulary." Before the Director could shoot, Kid Flash lunged into motion, blurring past the man and seizing hold of his cape, which he hurled over his head and then shoved the stumbling figure into his soldiers. They fell back, trying to avoid accidentally shooting their leader, and then Kid Flash was among them, grabbing weapons and delivering quick taps to the head. When he was through, he brushed his hands and stepped back to observe his handiwork- a round dozen gold-armored figures and one purple one, all lying on the ground in a heap.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," he observed, but listening closely he could hear the sounds of the other group of approaching soldiers. At first he considered running, but looking more closely at his defeated enemies brought a different plan to mind, one that would take too long for anyone else to pull off in this situation, and therefore hopefully the HIVE wouldn't expect it. A mischievous smile on his face, he grabbed the fallen Director and darted down the hall until he found a convenient side room to duck into. Within moments, he was adjusting the Director's cloak over his shoulders, and wondering exactly how these people put up with full face masks all the time. Leaving the real Director blissfully unconscious and out of the way, he stepped back out into the corridor, almost bumping into the purple-armored woman who led the other soldiers.

"Seventh," she demanded, "your men are lying in an unconscious heap in the middle of the corridor. I trust you have an explanation?"

"Well," Kid Flash said, trying to make his voice sound as much like Seventh's as he could and thanking the distorting mask, "we ran into the intruder and he refused to surrender. There was a fight, and he took a lot of us down, but I think I got a shot in him and it hurt, so he ran off. You should have seen him," he continued, warming to the story. "Great big guy, all muscle- handsome too. Very heroic-looking."

"Where did he go?" the woman Director demanded, apparently losing her patience.

"That way- up the corridor," Kid Flash said, pointing. "You just missed him."

The woman motioned for her soldiers, and they turned and darted back up the hallway. Kid Flash expected her to go along with them, but instead she grabbed him by the arm and began to march in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?" he asked, feeling nervous. Had he given himself away, somehow?

"To the ceremony, Seventh," the woman snapped. "Even you can't be that dense. Let the grunts handle the fighting- we need to be there when the Mistress takes our prisoner's power and become's immortal. Or at least, that's what Second says will happen."

"Oh, right. The ceremony." _Jinx!_ Kid Flash screamed inside his head, but didn't dare reveal any of that aloud. He decided changing the subject might be best. "What about, err, my soldiers?"

"They'll keep," the woman said. "Soon enough we'll be changing the world- it starts tonight. A few minions are nothing compared to that."

"Yeah," Kid Flash said, mind whirling. "Guess you're right."

* * *

Jinx looked up as the door to her cell slid open and a man in the purple uniform of a Director entered. At first she thought it was Fifth, but this man was too large and muscular, and as he stepped forward she saw a naked cruelty in his eyes that was far different from her kidnapper's chilling emptiness. She had vague memories of him retrieving her from Fifth's jet, though she'd been drugged at the time, and after some effort a name- or rather a title- came to her. _Second Director. _

"So," she said, "what are you here for? Is it "let's all beat up the prisoner day"? Those were always popular with the gangs of thugs _I _used to run with."

"Silence," Second snarled. "Your feeble taunts do not affect me. Come. Your presence is required."

"Really? Well, my presence isn't interested in attending." She smiled nastily. "And from your tone, I'd say my feeble taunts have gotten to you rather nicely."

His only response to that was to lunge forward quicker than her eyes could follow and strike her across the face, knocking her back. As Jinx looked back up at him, face stinging, she wished more than anything that she was out of these cuffs so she could blast whatever smug expression he had under that mask off. As it was, she simply marked him down as someone she was going to enjoy hurting a _little_ too much after she got out of this mess.

"Speak again and you'll only make things worse for yourself," Second said. "I am not a kind or forgiving man. And when I said that your presence was required, I didn't mean to imply that I was giving you a choice." Bending down, he grabbed Jinx roughly by her collar and hauled her to her feet, forcing her to walk ahead of him out of the cell. Two guards waited there, weapons at the ready, and he handed her off to them, taking a position behind as they began to march through the winding corridors.

"You should be honored," Second breathed behind her. "You're going to get to be the first real subject of my greatest invention, not to mention revitalizing our Mistress. It's not a claim anyone else can make."

Jinx wiggled her hands, trying to get them out of the cuffs- or at least looser- without anyone noticing. "Yeah," she said, "having my powers and my life sucked out of me sounds great fun. But you should be 'honored' too- once I'm free, I'm going for Fifth first, and then you. Kind of appropriate for the guy who's just _second_-best, wouldn't you agree?"

She could hear him tense behind her as he fought back rage, and she allowed herself a little smile.

* * *

Kid Flash felt his eyes widen behind his mask (or rather, masks) as he stepped into the central chamber of the base beside the woman Director, whom he'd learned was called Fourth. The room was shaped like a massive cylinder, and it's floor was full of milling HIVE soldiers and a handful of other robed and masked Directors. At the center was a raised platform, and on it were perched two chairs. One was empty and plain, apart from being covered in distinctly unpleasant-looking devices, while the other was ornate and occupied by a small, hunched figure in robes but no mask. He could barely make out the figure's face, apart from two gleaming eyes that suddenly turned on him with their full force and left him shivering. Somehow he had the feeling those too-bright eyes had seen straight through him, but let him be because he was of no consequence. It wasn't a happy thought.

"Quit gawking," Fourth snapped. "You'd think you'd never been here before. Now come on- First wants us over there." Kid Flash followed her through the soldiers, who hastily made way for them as they approached the other Directors. As they approached, the tallest, whose robes had golden trim on them, looked at them appraisingly. "I take it the intruder has been taken care of?" the man- First, presumably- asked.

"We had a fight, and he was hurt," Kid Flash said, trying to keep his voice steady and sounding like Seventh's. "Fourth's soldiers are chasing him down now."

First looked somewhat displeased, but not truly angry. "That should keep him busy until the ceremony is complete. There's too many of us in here for him to seriously jeopardize it, and we can hunt him down at our leisure after it is through. You've done… adequately." He turned away from them towards another door. "Ah, good- there's Second with our guest of honor."

Kid Flash turned and saw another director and his soldiers enter- but his eyes were drawn to the captive they had with them. "Jinx," he breathed softly, hoping desperately that none of the others heard. Fortunately, they didn't seem to have- all of their attention was on the captive and captor approaching the center of the room.

* * *

Jinx didn't look at any of the HIVE soldiers as she was led into the huge room. She'd almost had her hands free, she though, but that may have just been wishful thinking and was certainly a moot point now. There was no way she'd be able to get out surrounded by so many soldiers. Some part of her whispered that maybe she wasn't going to be getting out of this one. She banished it to the back of her mind. If she let herself think like that, she _was_ trapped.

Second and his men led her up a staircase around the central column, and there at the top her cuffs were finally released. She thought for a wild moment about hurling herself at him with the most powerful hex she could muster, but before she had a chance the two soldiers ceased her and slammed her down into the chair, which immediately locked her into place. Jinx twisted and struggle, to no avail. She was trapped.

"Are we ready?" Second asked.

"Directors ready," the tall one, probably the First, said. "Mistress?"

"I am prepared," she said. "I grow weary of age and weakness. Let me be reborn!"

"Very well." Second strode over to the side of the platform to where a raised platform stood. He punched some commands into it and then stepped back, waiting. Jinx heard a low humming and crackling begin from near her feet, and she knew that the machine that would strip away her powers had activated. Fear lanced through her, but she refused to show it. No matter what they did to her, she wasn't going to let these HIVE maniacs think she was weak.

The humming grew louder, and then the pain started. *

*AN: Yes, I know, evil cliffhanger. I hope to have the next chapter up later this week. And, for anyone who thought that KF's infiltration was too easy, remember that the Directors are a bunch of eccentric (to put it mildly) ambitious people who aren't terribly close even with their colleagues, and on top of things are rather preoccupied to begin with. His impersonation wouldn't hold up for long- but right now, he doesn't need it to.


	12. Chapter 11: Be a Hero

**Chapter 11: Be a Hero**

The HIVE's machine flashed as Jinx started to scream, the Directors looking on expectantly, the Mistress's beady eyes gleaming. Kid Flash didn't know exactly what was going on here, but suddenly that didn't seem to matter any more- he knew he needed to get Jinx away from that thing no matter what, and that was enough. Darting forward, he slammed into Fourth and sent her stumbling against the other Directors, knocking them off balance, and before they could recover he dashed forward to the base of the platform the terrible chair was mounted on. Quickly scanning around the base, he couldn't see any obvious controls or mechanical parts, and decided it would probably be best to just improvise.

He brought one hand up and slammed it into the platform's side, vibrating it like a jackhammer as he quickly bored through the encasing armor towards the more sensitive machinery inside. Yes- there was a wire, or a bundle of them. Wrapping his hand around them, Kid Flash pulled- and was blasted backwards by the force of a defensive electrical surge. Even as he was thrown back to land near the feet of the Directors, he'd felt the wires come free in his hands. Whatever he'd just done to the machine, it almost certainly hadn't been good for it.

Groaning, he looked up to see the circle of cloaked figures looming over him. "What is the meaning of this, Seventh?" Fourth demanded, shoving her way to the front. "Have you gone mad?"

"No, he hasn't," said First. "Did you see how he moved? This isn't Seventh- we've been tricked!" Bending down, he yanked the Director mask off, revealing Kid Flash's face. "The intruder didn't escape- he's been here with us all along!"

"Then what happened to Seventh?" Fourth asked, sounding mystified. "He wasn't out of my sight long enough for the switch."

"It doesn't matter," Second snarled, climbing down from the platform and shoving his way forward. "He damaged my machine, and he's going to pay dearly for it." The cruel Director raised his hand and clenched it into a fist, electricity playing along the glove.

* * *

Agony such as she had never known filled Jinx's body. She could feel the HIVE's invention as it sent tendrils of pain shooting throughout her entire being, reaching for that which connected her to the energy that let her shape probability and siphoning it off to revitalize the evil old Mistress and do who knew what else on top of that. She wanted to shout defiantly at her captors as they leeched the powers away from her, but all that she managed to do was scream.

Then something changed. The agony seemed to sputter and then diminish, as though the machine was having difficulties of some sort, and the power-draining process ground to a halt. Jinx opened her eyes and looked out- she saw the Directors gathered in a circle around one of their own who'd apparently fallen, while the HIVE soldiers looked on. Then First pulled off the fallen Director's mask, and Jinx could make out a familiar shock of red hair. Between the unfamiliar circumstances and the lingering pain it took her a few moments to process what was going on, and then her eyes widened. _Kid Flash!_

Anger and fear shot together through Jinx's mind. Between the threat to herself and now the danger to Kid Flash, something seemed to give way inside her, and all the pain and uncertainty of the last few days vanished, replaced by a single, absolute determination- that neither of them was going to die today. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Mistress's gaze turn towards her, eyes narrowing in concern, but she ignored her. Jinx reached deep inside herself, deeper than she had when she'd unleashed her power against the Fifth Director, and _pushed._ The headache came back, harder than it had been before, but she ignored it, focusing through the pain on her determination to save both their lives.

Finally something seemed to snap, and then the power shot out of her in pinkish-purple waves on all sides. Some of it passed into the machine, but it was far stronger and more raw than it had been designed to handle. Jinx felt herself smile as bad luck infected the entire nightmarish device, and suddenly everything that could possibly go wrong with it _was_. The restraints holding herself in place snapped open, and she leaped up and ducked as the chair itself shivered and exploded. The platform remained standing, but she could hear sounds from deep inside it that made it clear things were _not_ well with the sophisticated machinery.

The Mistress's chair was blasted off the platform by the force of the hexes, but the jets underneath it activated and managed to stabilize it in midair as it drifted down behind the Directors. The Mistress herself looked up with an inscrutable expression on her face, at once angered and intrigued, as if someone had just made a move against her in a chess game that she hadn't anticipated.

Jinx pulled herself back to her feet, framed in the light from the smoldering wreckage of the chair, energy crackling around her hands and eyes glowing. "Sorry, guys," she said down to the Directors. "Looks like your luck just ran out."

* * *

Second whirled away from Kid Flash to stare up at the power-transfer machine as it spectacularly self-destructed. The speedster smiled as he saw the Mistress go flying while the Directors watched in horror, and the smile broadened as Jinx appeared on the edge of the platform, looking down at them all with her plainly intact powers crackling in the air around her. "That's my girl," he muttered happily.

Second wheeled back on him, eyes blazing in fury. "You!" he snarled, raising his hands. "You did this! I will make you suffer!" Energy formed around his gloves and blasted towards Kid Flash, but the speedster was no longer there. Second's eyes widened in bafflement, and then a finger poked him on the shoulder. He turned to find the intruder, having apparently pulled off his bulky Director's robes to reveal a gaudy red-and-yellow costume beneath, leaning casually against the platform. "How?" the Director asked.

Kid Flash shrugged. "Fastest guy alive," he said. "It'll get you out of some tight spaces."

"Not for long!" Second raised one hand, palm out, and a beam of energy lanced from it. Before it could strike, however, a hex shot down from above and knocked it from its course so that it dug deeply into the steel floor, but didn't harm Kid Flash. The Director looked up to see Jinx leap lightly from the platform to stand next to Kid Flash.

"You're mine," she said. "Let's see how well you do against someone who isn't tied up and helpless, eh, Second? Bet you won't like that at all." She looked over at Kid Flash. "Second and the Mistress are mine. Think you can handle the rest of these clowns?"

Kid Flash looked around at the HIVE soldiers raising their weapons and the remaining five Directors, who clustered together around their Mistress's chair. He gave a roguish grin. "I don't think that'll be too hard," he said. He and Jinx looked at each other, nodded, and smiled before moving to confront their respective targets.

* * *

Jinx knew the Second Director's type well. He was a bully at heart, and like all bullies he feared nothing more than coming face to face with someone who didn't fear him and was strong enough to stand up to him. Unfortunately, with the destruction of his machine he was now backed into a corner as well, and that made him extra dangerous. There were few kinds of people who'd put up a tougher fight than a coward who didn't have anything left to lose.

"You destroyed my creation," Second hissed. "You ruined our plans to save the Mistress, and you have humiliated me in front of the entire HIVE." Both his hands were now pulsing with power- Jinx didn't know what those weapons were that were built into them, but they certainly looked nasty. "For all of that, you will pay."

"Yeah, well you were the guy who beat me up back in my cell when I was helpless, invented the machine that I'm guessing probably would have killed me, and tried to kill my b- my friend." Jinx's eyes were hard. "I think this is pretty personal on both ends."

Second suddenly snarled and brought both hands together in front of him. The crackle of the energy bolts around them intensified, and then he thrust both hands forward. A massive ray of energy shot from them, far more powerful than anything he'd used before- and aimed directly at Jinx.

She managed to cartwheel to the side, but she could feel that heat from the blast and decided it was far too close for her comfort. Jumping back to her feet, she thrust her own hands forward and sent a stream of hexes racing towards the cloaked figure. Second only smirked behind his mask and deflected them with his gloves- apparently the same power that fueled the weapons also provided a convenient shield.

"All right, then," Jinx muttered. "Let's do this the hard way." She took a run at Second, leaping midway through and aiming a kick directly at the blank mask she had come to truly hate over the past few days. He darted to the side and caught her by the ankle, sending electric agony coursing up her body from his gauntlet. She collapsed to the floor as he let her go, clothes still smoking.

Jinx coughed and looked up, wincing through the pain. Second towered over her, gloves activated and eyes alight with malice. "And so it ends," he said. "You should have known that you- a child- could not defeat me, one of the most powerful men in the most powerful criminal organization in the world. You lost before you ever began."

"Tsk, tsk," Jinx said weakly. "Brother Blood would have been so disappointed in you just there. Maybe _you_ should have attended HIVE Academy."

"What is this babbling?" Second demanded, taken aback.

Jinx leaped to her feet, the most terrible pains from that attack having been feigned. Lunging forward, she caught Second in the ribs with a kick, sending him stumbling back, and then followed up by seizing his masked face and releasing a hex. There was a brilliant flash of purpled light and the mask was blasted off, revealing the brutal features of a man who seemed a few years younger than the Fifth Director. His eyes bulged hatefully as residual energy from the hex played around his face, and then they rolled back in his head as he collapsed to the floor.

Jinx dusted off her hands and stood over him. "You clearly didn't get one of the Academy's first lessons- _never_ gloat or monologue until you're_ certain_ the other person's down hard. Otherwise, it'll blow up in your face." She looked down at him and shrugged. "Literally, in your case."

Raising her head, she looked around the base-turned-battlefield. Most of the soldiers and some of the Directors were tied up chasing something that moved with blurring speed and was presumably Kid Flash, while some of the other Directors were nowhere to be found, apparently having decided to cut and run while they could. But the Mistress was still seated in her throne-like chair watching the fight intently, with the First Director standing in front of her like an honor guard.

Jinx smiled and began to walk towards them.

* * *

Kid Flash darted among the HIVE soldiers, easily dodging the blasts from their beam rifles. Every so often he'd stop to snag a weapon, thwack the back of a helmet, or make a witty insult, effectively sowing chaos throughout the ranks. That was one of the advantages of superspeed, so long as you kept your head- since you were next to impossible to hit or catch, tearing apart the order of large groups of enemies was quite easy and, in Kid Flash's opinion, fun.

A wall of force suddenly slammed into him, leaving him sprawling and gasping on the ground. Looking up, he saw the Fifth Director standing over him, holding the metal staff that was projecting the force-field. Fourth stood just behind him, her hands encased in weapons that somewhat resembled the sonic cannon Kid Flash had seen Cyborg use. "This is for fooling me, spy," she snarled, bringing both cannons up. "Payback time."

Both weapons pulsed, and then unleashed twin blasts of compressed sound. Kid Flash barely managed to duck aside as they dug into the floor, twisting the metal into two long grooves. Snarling in fury, Fourth fired again, and suddenly he found himself on the defensive, darting back and forth to avoid the female Director's blasts.

That, Kid Flash decided, just wouldn't do at all.

Dodging her latest blast, he turned straight towards her and launched himself into a charge. Leaping over Fifth's force-field- surprisingly, he did nothing to prevent it- Kid Flash landed directly in front of fourth and grabbed her wrists as she brought the cannons back to bear, quickly crossing a few wires in each of them. Her eyes widened in horror, and Kid Flash pulled back as the cannons began to vibrate intensely and then shattered with enough force to send Fourth sprawling on the floor, unconscious.

The sound of slow applause sounded from behind him, and he turned to see Fifth clapping with his staff under one arm. "Well done," he said. "Fourth has a genius for weapons, but she is a fool otherwise- I knew it would be no contest between you." Suddenly the staff was back in his hands and being twirled with expert ease. "Our battle, however, should be far more interesting."

Kid Flash shot him a cocky grin and rushed forward, determined to grab the staff out of Fifth's hands before he could use it to make a force-field again. As his fingers wrapped around the metal, however, a powerful jolt shot through his body and sent him stumbling back, wincing and rubbing his hands. Fifth shook his head. "Foolish boy," he said. "Did you really think I'd leave my primary weapon undefended? And just in case you're getting any clever ideas, my entire suit of armor is protected in the same manner. You cannot touch me."

"You're the one who's wrong there," Kid Flash pointed out. "I _can_ touch you. I just won't like it. Big difference."

"We shall see." Fifth brought the staff up and lunged forward, energy trailing off the weapon. Kid Flash dodged easily, but he could still feel the sparks in the air as the staff passed by. Finally he simply gritted his teeth and grabbed hold of the weapon, wincing as the energy shot up his hands and into his arms. Fifth struggled to maintain the hold on his end, but Kid Flash began to shake his fingers extremely quickly, causing the entire staff to vibrate. It slid out of Fifth's hands, and the speedster thrust it forward, taking the Director in the chest and knocking him to the floor.

Kid Flash darted forward to stand over his fallen foe. "Looks like you lose after all," he said.

"Only in your mind, my young enemy," Fifth replied, apparently completely unconcerned by his situation. "You may have defeated me in combat, but you cannot prevent my escape."

"What do you mean?" Kid Flash asked, suddenly on his guard.

Fifth chuckled. "I was never here." Wondering what he could possibly mean, Kid Flash grabbed the fallen Director's mask and yanked it off- only to reveal, rather than the face of Dr. Stevens that he'd been expecting, but the cold metal features of a robot.

"How?" the teen hero whispered under his breath. Fifth must have dressed the robot in his uniform before even arriving in this room with the rest of the Directors but why would he have done that unless he knew something was going to go wrong? Then Kid Flash saw the beeping red light in the robot's forehead, and he barely had time to leap back before the metal man exploded in a brilliant flash of fire and light. When the smoke cleared, the mechanical double was gone, and with it whatever secrets it might have held about the true location of the Fifth Director.

* * *

Jinx stalked towards the Mistress, eyes glowing and determined. The old woman watched, expression and posture still unconcerned, while in front of her the First Director stood, a beam pistol in each hand. "Don't come any closer," he warned. "We still require your powers, and I do not want to kill you, but if you attack you leave me no choice."

"Somehow, I don't think that's how this is going to work out," Jinx said. The Director raised his weapons, but before he could fire a hex struck both from his hands. A second blast caught him in the body and sent him flying, where he crashed against the central platform and fell to the floor, unmoving. Ignoring him, Jinx stepped forward to face the Mistress.

"That battle occurred much as I expected it to," the Mistress said. "I awarded First his position for his loyalty, not for his combat skills. It appears I may have chosen poorly."

"Y'think?" Jinx asked. "But I don't think any of the others would have done much better- you saw what I did to Second back there. Now it's just you and me. Looks like Kid Flash and I took down the whole HIVE by ourselves. Probably not what you had in mind when you set the whole thing up."

The Mistress laughed softly in her dry voice. "Foolish girl. You fall into the same mistake Second did- do not gloat until the battle is won!"

"Yeah, well I don't think one dried up old woman is going to give me that much challenge," Jinx said. Raising her hands, she launched a powerful hex directly at the Mistress's chair- only to have it rebound from the force-field that shimmered into existence there and strike her directly in the chest, knocking her to the floor and the wind out of her body.

"Did you think I would leave myself defenseless?" the Mistress asked. She quickly pressed a series of keys along her chair's armrests, and then it lifted into the air, force-field expanding into a sphere that protected the entire conveyance. Rotating weapon turrets extended from the tips of the arms, the top of the canopy, and along the bottom. All of them trained themselves on Jinx.

"You thought you could defeat me," the Mistress said. "Child, I have been a part of the criminal underworld for almost ten times the span of your entire life, and I have faced challenges to my power that you cannot hope to compare to. I am the Mistress, founder and guiding light of the HIVE, and you are nothing more than an arrogant, foolish little thief who thought she could be so much more.

"You might still be of use to me, however. Your power is indeed formidable- with Second's help I could rebuild the machine so it would do you no permanent damage other than transferring that power to me. The resources of the HIVE are at my back- I could give you anything you desired, even your friend Kid Flash, so long as you submitted yourself willingly to my plans. I could make something meaningful of you at last. What do you say?"

Jinx looked up at her, eyes hard. "You're wrong," she said. "I left the HIVE behind, and for the last few months I've been trying to make something better of myself. But that's not going to come from joining you. Do you honestly think after I got out of your little operation I'd want back in? I've found better friends, better people to look up to and want to be like. Kid Flash helped me find the way. You want to know what I am? I'm a _hero_, and I'm not going to lie down and give myself up to you."

For a brief moment the Mistress's face twisted into a hideous mask of rage, but then she was calm and controlled again. "Very well," she said. "You chose your own fate." The chair's weapons lowered into position, and the old woman flipped another switch on her armrest. The weapons burst into life, and Jinx readied herself to defend with hexes- but before the blasts struck, a blur shot through the air, and when it cleared she was gone.

"What?" the Mistress breathed, uncertainty crossing her withered features. "What happened?"

"Teamwork," Kid Flash said from where he stood with Jinx directly beneath the chair. "Something you wouldn't know about."

The Mistress snarled and her chair spun in midair, weapons reorienting on the two teens. Jinx shot her a feral smile and then leapt into the air, forming hexes around her hands as powerful as she could make them and slamming them into the underside of the force-sphere. Energy bolts crackled through the air as the two forces did battle, but finally the sphere shattered into a thousand shards and evaporated. The hex energy continued up into the underside of the chair, shorting out the drives that kept it aloft and the weapons that defended it. When the Mistress realized what was happening, she abandoned her control- a high-pitched scream sounded from the chair as it crashed to the floor.

Jix fell from beneath its underside, but before she struck the ground Kid Flash was there, catching her and carrying her away from the debris. When he stopped, she looked up at him and smiled. "Nice save," she said.

"Any time."

Jinx leapt out of his arms and hurried over to the wreckage of the chair. It lay on its side now, components twisted and damaged beyond repair. In front of it lay the Mistress, crawling on her hands and knees, looking strangely pathetic as she stared up at Jinx with fearful eyes. "It's over," the girl said to her. "You're defeated, your Directors are down, and your soldiers all look like they scattered when they saw their bosses go down. In a few minutes, we're going to call the law, and when they get here, the HIVE will be finished."

"So this is how it ends," the Mistress rasped. "It has been a fine game, though admittedly not one I expected to lose." She met Jinx's eyes, expression unwavering. "To the victor goes the spoils, then. I am helpless- finish me. I know you want to."

For a moment, Jinx was tempted, and then she shook her head. "No. I'm not like you, and I'm not going to give you an easy way out. You're going to stand trial, and then you'll be locked away for whatever's left of your life, powerless. Is that what you're afraid of? It's what you deserve."

The Mistress made no reply, and Jinx turned away from her, walking back over to Kid Flash. "Well then," she said, "I guess that's the end of it. No more Mistress, no more Directors, no more HIVE."

"Guess it is," Kid Flash agreed. He stepped forward and put his arm around her shoulders, and they looked out over the ruins of a criminal empire.

"Just one question, though," Jinx finally said. "Where's Fifth? That guy and me still had some unfinished business."

Kid Flash's expression suddenly went uncharacteristically dark. "I think there's something you need to know…"


	13. Epilogue: The Invisible Hand

**Epilogue: The Invisible Hand**

Within a few hours of the Mistress's defeat, the HIVE headquarters was swarming with soldiers and government law enforcement agents, following a few phone calls by Kid Flash. The remaining HIVE soldiers and techs were taken into custody, as were the captured Directors and the Mistress herself, while agents scoured the organization's computer databases looking for information on its activities across the nation and beyond. Within days, it seemed, the HIVE would be crippled, perhaps even shut down for good.

"Well," Kid Flash said to Jinx as they stood in the middle of headquarters, ignoring the chaos going on around them, "we won."

"Yeah, we did," Jinx replied. "But somehow, I don't think we were the only ones who did. Fifth and a couple of the other Directors got away, and if that robot you fought is any indication, he knew what was going to happen. Not to mention those soldiers you told me about- the ones who helped you find this place? I know criminals, and they talked too quick, too soon."

"You're saying somebody set this up," Kid Flash said. "I'm starting to think so too- I heard some of the government hackers talking just a little bit ago, and they said that someone had wiped out a lot of the HIVE's database. Whatever it had, they can't get to it."

"Great," Jinx muttered. "Just great. Looks like someone wanted the HIVE put down, and something tells me they weren't the good guys. Fifth was definitely part of it, but we don't know where he is now, or anything that he was really up to. Looks like all we've done is trade one bad guy for another."

Kid Flash shook his head. "Maybe, but we still did some good here. The HIVE was one of the most powerful criminal groups in the world, and we took them down. They're not going to be able to hurt anyone else, or try and take over the world or get whatever kind of "power" the Mistress really wanted." He looked over at Jinx and grinned. "And they're not going to be chasing us anymore, and now that you've got a better grip on what your powers can do, you probably won't be having any more of those attacks. That's a plus."

Jinx smiled at him. "That's you- always looking on the bright side. But what if there is something out there bigger than the HIVE, or Fifth manages to rebuild it?"

Kid Flash put his hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll find out about it, and take them down. That's what we do, isn't it?"

Her smile came back, broader this time. "I guess you're right."

* * *

He watched the government helicopters swarming about the HIVE's mountain from the monitor aboard his jet, gazing upon what he had wrought and finding it good.

All of the high ranking members of the HIVE had been ambitious- it was what brought the Directors together in the first place- but the others had all had some trait that diluted the purity of that ambition, be it Second's sadism or First's fanatical loyalty. The Mistress had seen clearly, recognizing that power alone had value, and anything that could be done to take it should be done. He himself had seen as well, and he had known that he could not coexist as equal with the others forever.

When the chance came, he took it. He had been given the duty of capturing the experimental subject Jinx, but when he learned from the fool Gizmo about her oh-so-loyal companion, he had recognized his opportunity. He'd left the boy behind and alive when he took her, and allowed to be captured certain soldiers he knew were motivated more by self-preservation than loyalty. He knew Kid Flash wouldn't rest until he'd found Jinx, and that it would be easy for him to get the information he needed from those particular soldiers.

When the boy had come to the headquarters, it had been the Director who had weakened the security systems to allow him easy entry, and had suggested that two of his colleagues he knew couldn't handle the job be sent to apprehend the intruder. In so doing he had introduced the enemy to the very heart of the HIVE, knowing that once he'd freed Jinx, there would be little that could stand against their combined powers. A robot double, dressed in a copy of his own cloak and armor, ensured that he himself would not be at risk, whatever happened. If the HIVE won, he still had his position- if the teenagers won, then his chief rivals would have been removed. When the dust had settled and the other directors had fallen, he'd hastily wiped the bulk of the information from the HIVE computers and slipped away to where his jet waited for him.

That the HIVE had been smashed didn't concern him. All the information about his own network of contacts, informants, and pawns had been the first information he'd wiped- the government would not be able to undo him. Third and Sixth had managed to escape as well, and he knew he'd be able to bend them to his cause. What remained of the HIVE was now his absolutely, and would become the foundation on which his power would grow.

"Set your course for my safe house," the man who had once been merely the Fifth Director but was now Master of the HIVE ordered his pilot. "I have work to do."

AN: For anyone who is wondering, this is the end of this fic, but not the end of the storyline- my next Titans fic will focus again on a member of the core team, but when I'm done with that one, we'll pick up with the second and final installment of this story. I've still got stuff I'd like to do with Jinx and Kid Flash, and something tells me they and Fifth (the Master?) are going to have things to settle before everything is said and done.

In the meantime, check out my other _Teen Titans_ stories, if you haven't already (see my profile for more info if you're interested). Thanks a lot to all my readers and reviewers, and I hope to see you all again in a few months when I'm ready to start on the sequel!


End file.
